Becoming Great by First Being Lowly

Today I am going to talk about the importance of humility. Let's read from Luke 22:24,26,"And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted  the greatest. And He said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve." This saddened Jesus very much. For one, this was the exact opposite of the spirit that would rule in Jesus' kingdom; and secondly, this was right before Jesus went to Gethsemane. This goes to show that Satan was doing all he could to discourage Jesus, by getting the disciples to think about self, instead of doing all they could to encourage Him, and to be united.  In fact, the spirit that the disciples manifested was the same spirit that Satan manifested before he got kicked out of heaven. Lucifer had said, "I will be like the Most High." Isaiah 14:14. If we manifest just a little pride and selfishness, and don't repent of it, it will become bigger and more dominant in our lives until it is extremely hard to break away from it, that is what happened to Lucifer. Proverbs 13:10 says,"Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom."  It is logical that if we are prideful, we will be in strife with somebody. That's what happened to the disciples.  When this text says "but with the well advised is wisdom" that means those who are willing to accept counsel, or are humble, are wise.
   The spirit of the Most High is to be a servant.  Philippians 2:5,8, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:Who, being  in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."   Notice that this text says that we are to have this mind that Jesus had.  So we are to be willing to do menial tasks and not consider any duty 'beneath' us.  And to imitate the character of Jesus.
  I would like to close with this text from 1 Peter 5:6, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:"  I would like to be exalted! So what we need to do to be exalted, is to be humble, and to accept the lot of life that God has given us, and someday, God will reward all those that are faithful to Him in the little things. I am looking forward to that day!