Hey Clawson Family!

Song: 

Scripture:

Luke 9:48 New Living Translation

Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.”

Matthew 18:2-6 Amplified Bible

2 He called a little child and set him before them, 3 and said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent [that is, change your inner self—your old way of thinking, live changed lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.4 Therefore, whoever [a]humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Matthew 19:14-15 New Living Translation

14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”15 And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

Devotional:

The disciples were most likely thinking about their talents when they asked who was the greatest. Whoever has the most valuable talents has got to be the GOAT: the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. My talents make me more valuable to the Kingdom of God. I have seen this mistake with the comparison between Lebron James and Michael Jordan. They compare talent alone. If you compare talent alone, Lebron is going to beat Michael in the Comparison every time.

Michael Lebron

6’6 6’9

200 lbs 250 lbs

Decent shooter Great shooter

30.1 points per game 27.1 points per game

6 rebounds per game 7.5 rebounds per game

5 Assists per game 7 assists per game

2.3 steals per game 1.5 steals per game

6 rings 4 rings

32,292 points 40,474 points

Jordan is better scorer and defenseman but Lebron is a more well-rounded player

If talent is all you're thinking of, then you might mistakenly feel like Labron is the Goat of Basketball. The issue is that there is so much more to go into this comparison. Remember Jesus told the disciples unless you repent and change your old way of thinking.

Things that aren't listed in the stats are Heart and Determination while on the court.

The pistons literally beat Jordan up, and he played through all of that. Lebron flopped on multiple occasions whenever he did not get touched.

Lebron doesn't play with the drive and determination that Jordan did, even when he didn’t like what the refs were calling. That puts Jordan in a category all to himself. Okay to clarify that is all in good fun! Believe what you want about the GOAT of basketball but the concept is the same. Jesus was looking at more than the disciples stats.

Here is what Jesus said to the disciples. Unless you repent, change your inner self and old way of thinking, and live changed lives, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. If you want to be the goat, change your way of thinking about how to become the goat.

He said Whoever is the least among you is the greatest. Here is what he is saying: in the Kingdom of Heaven, you don’t get to be prideful. Pride is the thing that got Satan kicked out of heaven! Pride is what takes our focus off of God and onto self. If you want to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, you have to get rid of all of your pride and become the least in your own mind.

That doesn’t make any sense at all, does it? Jesus tells them the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are like these children. We don’t want to be like children; we run around telling everyone to grow up. The Bible even says, “When I was a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away my childish ways.” And now you are telling me to change the way I think and to be like a child.

Jesus says whoever humbles himself like this child, whoever becomes like these children, Whoever is the least among you is the GOAT in the Kingdom of Heaven. We have got to change the way we think about the GOAT. 

Journal:

In your journal write down the characteristics of who Jesus says is the greatest in his Kingdom. What are some ways you need to change your thinking of greatness to align with His? 

Training:

Father,

Reveal to me any lies that I am believing about myself, others, or You. Help me replace those lies with Your transformative, healing truth. Give me a true understanding of who the greatest in your kingdom is.  Renew my mind. Transform my thoughts. And make me more like You today and every day. 

In Jesus’ name, amen.