Day 159: Luke 9:46–48

An argument started among them about who would be the greatest of them (v. 46).

The latter part of Luke 9 contains several seemingly disjointed snapshots of the disciples. First we see Jesus attempting to penetrate their thick skulls with the message of His soon-coming suffering and death. “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men” (v. 44). Hard to make it much clearer than that, wouldn’t you say? But we read that the Twelve didn’t understand, and that they were afraid to ask Jesus what He meant. Instead, an argument broke out among them about which of them would be greatest. Can you imagine?

Of course we can. We are not much unlike Christ’s original disciples. They thought their argument had been a private matter, but Christ knew their thoughts, just as He does ours. We may never have argued with someone openly about our own greatness, but Christ knows our hearts, as well as the attitudes that inhabit them. He knows our society thrives on ambition. And He knows that if we’re not extremely discerning, we will bring these same ambitions into the church. He knows our biggest hindrance to greatness as Christians is our desire to be great.

Don’t miss the contrast of Christ and His disciples at this point in His earthly tenure. Christ was on the road to greatness, but His road would take Him through betrayal, rejection, suffering, and death. Philippians 2:6–8 tells us Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. . . . He humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.”

How different this is from our own chosen path to greatness. And yet the Scripture uses Christ’s model to urge us not to grow weary and lose heart, since Jesus “endured the cross, scorning its shame” for the “joy set before him” (Heb. 12:2–3). He “tasted death” on our behalf. God the Father chose to “make the author of [our] salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb. 2:9–10).

Don’t be confused by the idea that the “author of our salvation” became perfect through suffering. He was always perfect in terms of sinlessness. The word “perfect” in this verse is teleioo, meaning “to complete, make perfect by reaching the intended goal.” Christ reached the goal (our salvation and His exaltation) through suffering. His road to greatness was a rocky one. A painful one. He knew it in advance, and yet He set His face resolutely toward the goal and accomplished it for all time. Simply put, we were worth it to Him.

And no matter how resistant we may be to this call, our road to true greatness will be the same as His—the highway of humility. At times it too will involve suffering, rejection, betrayal, and, yes, even death—to self. The question becomes, “Is He worth it to us?”

Without a doubt, one of the primary works God has sought to accomplish in me is to help me get over myself. The process has been excruciating and will no doubt be lifelong, but I have never been more thankful for any work in my life. I know no other way to say it: God finally got me to a place where I made myself sick. Oh, I still get plenty of glances at my self-centeredness, but never without a good wave of nausea. God and I now have a term for it in our prayer time. Don’t expect something deeply intellectual or theological. We just call it my “self-stuff.” Almost every day I ask God to help me address any active “self-stuff” and nail it to the cross. I literally name anything He brings to mind and look it straight in the face, even if it makes me cry. The following terms fall under the category of “self-stuff.” Give them a good look:

• self-exaltation, self-protection,

• self-righteousness, self-will,

• self-loathing, self-worship,

• self-serving, self-promotion,

• self-indulgence, self-absorption,

• self-delusion, self-pity, self-sufficiency.

Did I leave anything out? Is that some stuff, or what? If you think of others, by all means, add them to my list. Self, self, self! May it be enough to make a “self” sick! Here’s the big lie: Satan has convinced us that putting down our self-stuff is some huge sacrifice. Oh, beloved, what deception! Our self-stuff is what makes us most miserable! What an albatross our self-absorption is.

I cannot stress strongly enough that getting over the self-stuff is a daily challenge. As long as we inhabit this tent of flesh, it will rise up in us. We must choose to “deny [ourselves] and take up [our] cross daily” (Luke 9:23). The challenge demands total honesty before God. Remember, He never convicts us to condemn us. He wants to liberate us. Oh, God, so deal with self in each of us that when You read our thoughts, You will find stronger and stronger evidences of Your own.