Transparency PSA, This message has no bearing if God is of no use to you, so I’ll spare you the read. Just skip to the announcements. But if you’re playing with, pursuing, or pontificating about, Jesus, then enjoy.
The topic of identifying the GOAT has been become quite the conversation platform in recent months. It seems that everyone has an opinion and names like the undisputed Tom Brady and Michael Jordan vs Lebron James have seen some major airtime around social media stages, sports shows, podcasts, barbershops, and boardrooms.
Each discussion revolves around defining who is, in fact, the greatest of all time in their category. And the sports’s world seems to be where this lands predominantly.
But it isn’t only circulating on ESPN. Nearly every other category of performance has thrown around names to land someone in that coveted GOAT spot.
And it’s not far from our minds, either, at least in some capacity, is it? We want to be the best dad or mom, the best student or leader, the best husband or wife, the best employee or boss, the best business owner, the best in our field of business, or just flat out the best. Even if we don’t have big dreams of achieving great things, we all have a longing for greatness, to be remembered, or at least not be forgotten.
Maybe you don’t find yourself with any of those thoughts. But what about feelings of insecurity and fear of failure. Maybe you just live in a constant state of comparison, beating yourself up for not being what you see (falsely dramatized or overly exaggerated) in others. This is in a sense, a struggle for that position, because it’s a fight in self-preservation.
People today are no different, however, from folks walking around without electricity, automobiles, cell phones, and Chick-fil-a. Jesus’s disciples had this same concern and even sought Jesus for this answer.
They believed that the kingdom of heaven was the ultimate and greatest kingdom to be part of and now, after following him and being his closest companions and helpers, they wondered who’d take top seed and bear the title of GOAT in the coming kingdom! (Matthew 18)
Jesus responded with an object lesson and a direct a bit of rebuking. He calls a little kid and puts the child in the middle of the group and says the disciples must REPENT – change their thinking – and become like the kid or they wouldn’t even get in at all. He was saying they needed to focus on being A PART of the kingdom instead of who is the greatest!
Humility is the filter through which greatness is seen in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says the humbleness of a child is the power behind the force in God’s kingdom and meekness is the muscle it takes to hold a place within.
I recently read that being meek originated in reference to war horses that powerfully charged into battle unphased by the chaos and death around it all the while choosing to surrender to its rider.
What is the consideration of Jesus in the conversation surrounding the GOAT saying to you about your current place in this world?
What way do you need to repent – think differently?
How might you embrace the innocence and humility of a little child?
How can you live meekly – charging fearlessly into battle yet allowing your power to come under the control of the Holy Spirit?
#theGOAT
#KingdomOfKids
#ChickenAndTheEgg
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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