At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
The disciples came to Jesus asking who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven, opening the teaching He gives through the rest of the chapter. The question came out of an open dispute among them over rank and honor, driven by pride and selfish ambition for supremacy because they still looked for a soon-coming earthly kingdom with places to fill rather than a spiritual kingdom. Greatness in His kingdom is not position, rank, outward splendor, wealth, or ruling over others, but inward spiritual excellence in a character made like Christ's in purity, meekness, mercy, justice, and love. No one enters that kingdom without conversion to become as a little child, and the greatest is the one who humbles himself with childlike lowliness, teachableness, dependence, and willingness to be least and servant of all. Receiving one such believing little one in Jesus' name is receiving Jesus Himself, while causing one to stumble or despising and harming them brings terrible woe, so there must be no striving for supremacy, rivalry, or lording over others.
Question's Setting and Motive
At the same time the disciples came to Jesus asking who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and the question opens the instruction that fills the chapter on dealing with erring members. The asking reveals their concern for rank and sets up the answer that true greatness is not status or self-exaltation but humility, meekness, and the teachableness of a little child. In the verses that follow He calls a little child and sets him in the midst, teaching that entering the kingdom requires conversion and becoming like little children, and that the greatest is whoever humbles himself like a child. The little ones so addressed are not babies but believers inexperienced in following Christ who need childlike guidance in seeking the things of the kingdom, and walking humbly with God in willing submission to His training and discipline keeps a person in right relation to Him and open to His use.
The question arose from repeated active disputes among them over who would hold the highest place of honor. Their rivalry expressed a wrong spirit of desire for supremacy and distinction, which they tried to hide from Jesus. The asking exposed self-esteem, envy, and jealousy leading people to seek precedence over others, and it leads directly to the correction that the humble are greatest and that receiving a child in Christ's name is receiving Christ while causing a believer to stumble brings grave warning.
They asked while He was preparing them for His betrayal, death and resurrection, words they did not understand. Their hopes were rekindled when He spoke of going to Jerusalem, because they expected Him to establish an earthly kingdom soon with offices to fill, and they competed for honor, position, wealth and splendor. They still struggled to understand that His kingdom was not a worldly kingdom but spiritual excellence of character made like His, and they tried to hide their dispute by lagging behind, though He knew their thoughts and waited for a quiet moment when they would be ready to receive counsel. Their selfish ambition stood in painful contrast with His unselfish love and the humiliation He faced for them.
Their motive was pride and self-exaltation without conversion and without understanding, a desire to command before learning to obey. The question expressed concern with rank and superiority and insistence on one's own way, lusting for honor, gain and position from a masterly spirit lacking self-control and close connection with God. The answer is that entrance requires a changed, childlike humility, and greatness is not gained through rivalry or self-seeking but through humbling oneself as a little child, a warning against striving for personal superiority and a call to yield oneself to God, repent and be converted. Ministers and lay members who do not grasp this are not Bible Christians and do not represent the character of Christ, receiving blessings with complaint and faultfinding and criticism of others instead of thankfulness, gratitude and joy.
The striving showed blindness that comes from occupying the negative side in evil thinking. To understand the question is to cast away evil thinking, humble the heart before God, have the eyes opened, and no longer stand on the negative side.
True Greatness Redefined
In Christ's spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, rank, outward splendor, authority, wealth, status, or holding the first place as rulers and teachers in the visible church, and it is not secured by striving for supremacy, sharp dealings for advantage, or self-sufficiency. The disciples' question about who holds the highest rank introduces the correction that greatness there is inward excellence rather than outward exaltation or high position. Worldly honor, position, wealth and splendor do not make a person great in God's sight.
True greatness is spiritual excellence, a character made like Christ's, shown in genuine conversion, purity, meekness, mercy, justice and love. It is knowing God and loving Him, and knowing Christ whom He sent and loving Him as God is loved, which is the test of those chosen and precious. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God is the unfailing evidence of this true religion and sanctification of heart, life and character.
The greatest is the one who humbles himself like a little child, and no one enters the kingdom without being converted and becoming as little children. That childlikeness is humility, meekness, lowliness, teachableness, dependence, simplicity, obedience and willingness to be taught and to submit to training and discipline. It means daily dependence on God, not seeking to be first, esteeming others better than self, and taking the humble position that gives evidence of being a true child of God.
That greatness is learned from Christ in meekness and lowliness, by being renewed in the spirit of the mind and cultivating humility and childlike simplicity. It is thinking least of self and exalting Jesus most, willingly being least of all and servant of all and serving as an example of humility, even serving those who seem weaker or less important. Self-importance is exactly opposite to the meekness and lowliness of Christ, and without this humble spirit life is not hid with Christ in God. The nearer people come to Jesus the less they desire status or preeminence, and those who have correct views of true greatness will never contend for supremacy or seek to be first to obtain favor.
True greatness is measured by heaven's standard, not by pride, distinction, or thoughts of personal reward. Those who focus on exalting themselves rather than returning their gifts to God have no place in the kingdom, because they belong with Satan's ranks. While self-esteem and self-exaltation remain, God cannot safely grant favors, because people would take the glory to themselves, whereas those who abide in Christ with His meekness and character receive wisdom from heaven.
Entering Through Childlike Conversion
No one enters the kingdom without being converted and becoming as little children, turning to childlike humility. Jesus taught this by calling a little child and setting him in the midst of the disciples who had asked who holds the highest place. The child’s simplicity shows the humility expected among God’s children, and the one who humbles himself like a child is greatest there. The little ones to be guided in this way are not babies but believers inexperienced in following Christ who need childlike guidance in seeking the things of the kingdom. Although following and learning from Christ, the disciples still needed this conversion, showing that being a disciple does not by itself mean the heart has been changed. Their question about rank revealed pride, self-exaltation, and a harsh, arbitrary spirit that must die and be put on a level with a child. No doctrine, even truth itself, converts a person by being believed; it converts him only to that doctrine and not to Jesus Christ. A person may accept, advocate and teach truths such as the Sabbath and the state of the dead and yet remain unconverted and lose heaven unless he seeks Jesus for His converting power.
Becoming as a child means living in daily dependence on God, not seeking to be first, and esteeming others better than self. It means self-denial and a yielding, submissive spirit, becoming teachable as a child instead of self-sufficient. It means confessing sin, seeing defects of character as the Holy Spirit touches the heart, and laying aside strife over position and bruised, wounded feelings. It means learning to walk humbly with God under His training and discipline, willingly submitting to Him to stay in right relation to Him and open to His use and to receive His forgiveness. This teaching is the very best education, so simple and easily understood that no one needs to err or be in darkness about it, and taking this humble position gives evidence of being a true child of God.
This humility removes what seem insurmountable difficulties, because self-sufficiency is seen as it is. It brings unity, with all standing shoulder to shoulder in perfect accord in a firm, steady, forward and upward movement. It stops brooding over past errors and leads workers to help one another in love, to strengthen each other and prevent errors in the future.
Receiving and Harming Little Ones
The “little ones” that follow from the question about who is greatest are not babies, but believers who are little children in Christ, inexperienced in following Him and needing childlike guidance in seeking the things of the kingdom. They are those little in faith, including both children and weak and trembling souls with defects and objectionable traits, who are to be respected rather than harmed or misled. To receive one such little child in Jesus’ name is to receive Jesus Himself. What is done for even the least and feeblest is counted as done for Him.
To cause one of these believing little ones to stumble brings a woe so terrible that it were better to be drowned in the depth of the sea with a millstone hanged about the neck. The same condemnation rests on selfishly neglecting, despising, holding in contempt, judging, condemning, discouraging, being unforgiving and exacting toward, oppressing or harming them. Any injustice done to them is done to Jesus Himself, who purchased them at infinite cost.
Christ takes deep interest even in the least and feeblest of His people whom He purchased and ransomed by His blood. He seeks the lost and does not will that any of these little ones should perish, calling for tenderness and care toward those who err or need sympathy and love. His angels, who have access to Him in constant communion, are glad and willing to minister to the poor and needy who most need help, and they are the special charge of angels. His servants must therefore willingly minister to those they suppose inferior to themselves and care for children and other lowly and vulnerable believers.
True greatness is learning and practicing Christ’s work of uplifting the degraded and fallen and outcast and despising not one of the little ones. Entering the kingdom requires bringing this humble, compassionate lesson into practical life. The masterly spirit that lords it over God’s heritage is the opposite of this greatness and closes the gates of heaven to men.
Warning Against Striving for Supremacy
Matthew 18 opens with the question about who is greatest, and the whole chapter that follows forbids striving for supremacy, pride, rivalry, dissension, self-esteem, self-exaltation, and separation from one another. Inward concealed striving to be first, to be supreme and highly esteemed, self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity when not specially requested, taking satisfaction in brethren's deficiencies, and feeling one's judgment and capabilities are not appreciated, interpose self between the soul and God and grieve the Spirit of the Saviour. Such inward strife, now general among workers, hinders the work, turns men who ought to be a blessing into a curse that retards rather than advances it, and must be cleansed from the soul temple before the Lord can manifest His power and grace. Criticism and faultfinding are expressly the work of the devil, and the chapter's warning applies directly when workers accuse one another or seek to displace one another.
That spirit of striving for the highest place repeats what Satan began in the heavenly courts. He sought sympathy by claiming he could do wonderful things if not hampered by the law of Jehovah, suggested to angels a change in God's government for the advantage of the heavenly family, and deceived one angel and then another by placing his own thoughts in their minds and then repeating them to the highest Authority as their sentiments. While admired for beauty and exalted loveliness he covered his tracks, until suspicion and distrust of God and of one another entered without defined cause, and thus he commenced strife and rebellion. God alone could meet that rebellion, by expelling the disloyal with the instigator for the good of the loyal and true.
The disciples' question traces out the cause of disaffection and its evil consequences in envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, watching and evil surmising, criticism and faultfinding, and demeriting others to build up self. It exposes ambition for position, self-esteem, self-sufficiency, and the desire to lead and be placed at the head of work built by the hard labor and self-sacrifice of others and to claim its success. The same danger besets disciples today of becoming exalted by success and praise, requiring Christ's instruction about conversion, childlike humility, and care for little ones.
For those in responsibility the chapter forbids acting as lords or ruling like kings. They are instead to give wise counsel that protects and strengthens God's people, reject selfishness and narrow-mindedness, and set an example others can safely follow. No one in the church is to consider himself superior, a dictator, or a supreme authority, for desire for superiority is opposed to the humility required for the kingdom.
The chapter gives Christ's rules for dealing with erring members and with one another, and it belongs as an introduction to that instruction. It is to be studied as a whole, remembered, pondered, obeyed, woven into Christian life, and fully carried out, bringing a different atmosphere into the family, the school, and the church. Its terms are love of God with the whole person and love of neighbor as self, tending and purifying one's own thoughts rather than fixating on others' faults so that words are not spoken carelessly or made harmful. It calls against self-glorying and a wrong course of action to receive reproof and turn from that course, to keep self under Christ's control as the great Teacher, to give gospel workers and teachers of men, women, and children ample room instead of disparaging them, and to match profession with doing the Word in daily dealings, otherwise profession is counterfeit and without the right ring.
Living Out Childlike Humility
The question about who is greatest is answered by turning attention away from self toward sympathy and love for others. True greatness willingly serves those who seem weaker or less important, treats tenderly those young in experience or weak in faith, and makes personal, unselfish effort to help those outside Christ. That service helps people, brings them to repentance, and strengthens those weak in faith.
Selfish ambition stirs selfish words and feelings and eclipses Christ's love in the soul. Growth in Christ begins instead by moving downward into humble self-knowledge and acquaintance with God. Christian character becomes simple and trustful, and humility grows by remembering and recounting God's mercies, love, goodness, and compassion.
The same desire to be greatest appears in the world in pursuit of wealth that leads people to rob and destroy one another. Against this, the lesson teaches simplicity and humility, so that God can use and care for mind and body.
Humility does not require those awaiting Christ's return to crawl or creep on the floor like children as a literal sign. True humility is shown through a dignified, Christlike life with gentleness, readiness to help others, kind speech, and unselfish acts, while treating spiritual things with sacred dignity.
Striving to be greatest comes from self-esteem and self-exaltation, erroneous imagining, worldly scheming, lusting for honor, gain, and position, from a strong masterly spirit, lack of self-control, and lack of close connection with God. It is cured when the soul is absorbed in studying and meditating the glorious truths of the Word and in practicing Christ's words, leaving no leisure for selfish ambition. Then mercy and God's love make a person kind, conciliating, merciful, humble and contrite, teachable and dependent upon God, advancing in knowledge of God and receiving His blessing and wisdom by abiding in Christ and acting with His character.
In the home the first work is to have the Spirit of Christ abiding there so every member takes the cross and follows where Jesus leads, with parents ordering the education of their children to please the Lord and lead them to Christ. In the school the whole instruction is to be studied and fully carried out to bring a different atmosphere, and this bears directly on harshness toward students. Shaking or striking students in passion and forcing the will upon them shows lost self-control and no good influence unless students feel loved, and bruising a child bruises the teacher's own soul more by destroying manhood. Whatever spirit prompts such harshness must be cut off even if as dear and painful as severing a right arm, and replaced with love and tenderness and forbearance, receiving children in Christ's name, binding them to the heart, taking them alone to pray and talk with them, showing them the will of Christ, dealing with human minds as tenderly as Christ has dealt with them, understanding that a child's trials are greater to the child than adult trials are to adults, and seeking to save the lost instead of offending them.
The same instruction exposes critical, disrespectful conduct by a teacher and the way she and Haskell treated W. C. White. Their attitude failed its principles of humility and greatness, while White's willingness to serve and strengthen others rather than seek the highest place showed the opposing spirit.
To be esteemed by men is nothing, but to be commended by God is of real value. All who would be true Christians must give up seeking to be first in order to obtain His favor and recognition, humble themselves before Him in changed childlike humility in order to receive His forgiveness, yield themselves to God, and never contend for supremacy.
The disciples came to Jesus asking who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven, opening the teaching He gives through the rest of the chapter. The question came out of an open dispute among them over rank and honor, driven by pride and selfish ambition for supremacy because they still looked for a soon-coming earthly kingdom with places to fill rather than a spiritual kingdom. Greatness in His kingdom is not position, rank, outward splendor, wealth, or ruling over others, but inward spiritual excellence in a character made like Christ's in purity, meekness, mercy, justice, and love. No one enters that kingdom without conversion to become as a little child, and the greatest is the one who humbles himself with childlike lowliness, teachableness, dependence, and willingness to be least and servant of all. Receiving one such believing little one in Jesus' name is receiving Jesus Himself, while causing one to stumble or despising and harming them brings terrible woe, so there must be no striving for supremacy, rivalry, or lording over others.
Question's Setting and Motive
At the same time the disciples came to Jesus asking who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and the question opens the instruction that fills the chapter on dealing with erring members. The asking reveals their concern for rank and sets up the answer that true greatness is not status or self-exaltation but humility, meekness, and the teachableness of a little child. In the verses that follow He calls a little child and sets him in the midst, teaching that entering the kingdom requires conversion and becoming like little children, and that the greatest is whoever humbles himself like a child. The little ones so addressed are not babies but believers inexperienced in following Christ who need childlike guidance in seeking the things of the kingdom, and walking humbly with God in willing submission to His training and discipline keeps a person in right relation to Him and open to His use.
The question arose from repeated active disputes among them over who would hold the highest place of honor. Their rivalry expressed a wrong spirit of desire for supremacy and distinction, which they tried to hide from Jesus. The asking exposed self-esteem, envy, and jealousy leading people to seek precedence over others, and it leads directly to the correction that the humble are greatest and that receiving a child in Christ's name is receiving Christ while causing a believer to stumble brings grave warning.
They asked while He was preparing them for His betrayal, death and resurrection, words they did not understand. Their hopes were rekindled when He spoke of going to Jerusalem, because they expected Him to establish an earthly kingdom soon with offices to fill, and they competed for honor, position, wealth and splendor. They still struggled to understand that His kingdom was not a worldly kingdom but spiritual excellence of character made like His, and they tried to hide their dispute by lagging behind, though He knew their thoughts and waited for a quiet moment when they would be ready to receive counsel. Their selfish ambition stood in painful contrast with His unselfish love and the humiliation He faced for them.
Their motive was pride and self-exaltation without conversion and without understanding, a desire to command before learning to obey. The question expressed concern with rank and superiority and insistence on one's own way, lusting for honor, gain and position from a masterly spirit lacking self-control and close connection with God. The answer is that entrance requires a changed, childlike humility, and greatness is not gained through rivalry or self-seeking but through humbling oneself as a little child, a warning against striving for personal superiority and a call to yield oneself to God, repent and be converted. Ministers and lay members who do not grasp this are not Bible Christians and do not represent the character of Christ, receiving blessings with complaint and faultfinding and criticism of others instead of thankfulness, gratitude and joy.
The striving showed blindness that comes from occupying the negative side in evil thinking. To understand the question is to cast away evil thinking, humble the heart before God, have the eyes opened, and no longer stand on the negative side.
True Greatness Redefined
In Christ's spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, rank, outward splendor, authority, wealth, status, or holding the first place as rulers and teachers in the visible church, and it is not secured by striving for supremacy, sharp dealings for advantage, or self-sufficiency. The disciples' question about who holds the highest rank introduces the correction that greatness there is inward excellence rather than outward exaltation or high position. Worldly honor, position, wealth and splendor do not make a person great in God's sight.
True greatness is spiritual excellence, a character made like Christ's, shown in genuine conversion, purity, meekness, mercy, justice and love. It is knowing God and loving Him, and knowing Christ whom He sent and loving Him as God is loved, which is the test of those chosen and precious. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God is the unfailing evidence of this true religion and sanctification of heart, life and character.
The greatest is the one who humbles himself like a little child, and no one enters the kingdom without being converted and becoming as little children. That childlikeness is humility, meekness, lowliness, teachableness, dependence, simplicity, obedience and willingness to be taught and to submit to training and discipline. It means daily dependence on God, not seeking to be first, esteeming others better than self, and taking the humble position that gives evidence of being a true child of God.
That greatness is learned from Christ in meekness and lowliness, by being renewed in the spirit of the mind and cultivating humility and childlike simplicity. It is thinking least of self and exalting Jesus most, willingly being least of all and servant of all and serving as an example of humility, even serving those who seem weaker or less important. Self-importance is exactly opposite to the meekness and lowliness of Christ, and without this humble spirit life is not hid with Christ in God. The nearer people come to Jesus the less they desire status or preeminence, and those who have correct views of true greatness will never contend for supremacy or seek to be first to obtain favor.
True greatness is measured by heaven's standard, not by pride, distinction, or thoughts of personal reward. Those who focus on exalting themselves rather than returning their gifts to God have no place in the kingdom, because they belong with Satan's ranks. While self-esteem and self-exaltation remain, God cannot safely grant favors, because people would take the glory to themselves, whereas those who abide in Christ with His meekness and character receive wisdom from heaven.
Entering Through Childlike Conversion
No one enters the kingdom without being converted and becoming as little children, turning to childlike humility. Jesus taught this by calling a little child and setting him in the midst of the disciples who had asked who holds the highest place. The child’s simplicity shows the humility expected among God’s children, and the one who humbles himself like a child is greatest there. The little ones to be guided in this way are not babies but believers inexperienced in following Christ who need childlike guidance in seeking the things of the kingdom. Although following and learning from Christ, the disciples still needed this conversion, showing that being a disciple does not by itself mean the heart has been changed. Their question about rank revealed pride, self-exaltation, and a harsh, arbitrary spirit that must die and be put on a level with a child. No doctrine, even truth itself, converts a person by being believed; it converts him only to that doctrine and not to Jesus Christ. A person may accept, advocate and teach truths such as the Sabbath and the state of the dead and yet remain unconverted and lose heaven unless he seeks Jesus for His converting power.
Becoming as a child means living in daily dependence on God, not seeking to be first, and esteeming others better than self. It means self-denial and a yielding, submissive spirit, becoming teachable as a child instead of self-sufficient. It means confessing sin, seeing defects of character as the Holy Spirit touches the heart, and laying aside strife over position and bruised, wounded feelings. It means learning to walk humbly with God under His training and discipline, willingly submitting to Him to stay in right relation to Him and open to His use and to receive His forgiveness. This teaching is the very best education, so simple and easily understood that no one needs to err or be in darkness about it, and taking this humble position gives evidence of being a true child of God.
This humility removes what seem insurmountable difficulties, because self-sufficiency is seen as it is. It brings unity, with all standing shoulder to shoulder in perfect accord in a firm, steady, forward and upward movement. It stops brooding over past errors and leads workers to help one another in love, to strengthen each other and prevent errors in the future.
Receiving and Harming Little Ones
The “little ones” that follow from the question about who is greatest are not babies, but believers who are little children in Christ, inexperienced in following Him and needing childlike guidance in seeking the things of the kingdom. They are those little in faith, including both children and weak and trembling souls with defects and objectionable traits, who are to be respected rather than harmed or misled. To receive one such little child in Jesus’ name is to receive Jesus Himself. What is done for even the least and feeblest is counted as done for Him.
To cause one of these believing little ones to stumble brings a woe so terrible that it were better to be drowned in the depth of the sea with a millstone hanged about the neck. The same condemnation rests on selfishly neglecting, despising, holding in contempt, judging, condemning, discouraging, being unforgiving and exacting toward, oppressing or harming them. Any injustice done to them is done to Jesus Himself, who purchased them at infinite cost.
Christ takes deep interest even in the least and feeblest of His people whom He purchased and ransomed by His blood. He seeks the lost and does not will that any of these little ones should perish, calling for tenderness and care toward those who err or need sympathy and love. His angels, who have access to Him in constant communion, are glad and willing to minister to the poor and needy who most need help, and they are the special charge of angels. His servants must therefore willingly minister to those they suppose inferior to themselves and care for children and other lowly and vulnerable believers.
True greatness is learning and practicing Christ’s work of uplifting the degraded and fallen and outcast and despising not one of the little ones. Entering the kingdom requires bringing this humble, compassionate lesson into practical life. The masterly spirit that lords it over God’s heritage is the opposite of this greatness and closes the gates of heaven to men.
Warning Against Striving for Supremacy
Matthew 18 opens with the question about who is greatest, and the whole chapter that follows forbids striving for supremacy, pride, rivalry, dissension, self-esteem, self-exaltation, and separation from one another. Inward concealed striving to be first, to be supreme and highly esteemed, self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity when not specially requested, taking satisfaction in brethren's deficiencies, and feeling one's judgment and capabilities are not appreciated, interpose self between the soul and God and grieve the Spirit of the Saviour. Such inward strife, now general among workers, hinders the work, turns men who ought to be a blessing into a curse that retards rather than advances it, and must be cleansed from the soul temple before the Lord can manifest His power and grace. Criticism and faultfinding are expressly the work of the devil, and the chapter's warning applies directly when workers accuse one another or seek to displace one another.
That spirit of striving for the highest place repeats what Satan began in the heavenly courts. He sought sympathy by claiming he could do wonderful things if not hampered by the law of Jehovah, suggested to angels a change in God's government for the advantage of the heavenly family, and deceived one angel and then another by placing his own thoughts in their minds and then repeating them to the highest Authority as their sentiments. While admired for beauty and exalted loveliness he covered his tracks, until suspicion and distrust of God and of one another entered without defined cause, and thus he commenced strife and rebellion. God alone could meet that rebellion, by expelling the disloyal with the instigator for the good of the loyal and true.
The disciples' question traces out the cause of disaffection and its evil consequences in envy, evil thinking, evil speaking, watching and evil surmising, criticism and faultfinding, and demeriting others to build up self. It exposes ambition for position, self-esteem, self-sufficiency, and the desire to lead and be placed at the head of work built by the hard labor and self-sacrifice of others and to claim its success. The same danger besets disciples today of becoming exalted by success and praise, requiring Christ's instruction about conversion, childlike humility, and care for little ones.
For those in responsibility the chapter forbids acting as lords or ruling like kings. They are instead to give wise counsel that protects and strengthens God's people, reject selfishness and narrow-mindedness, and set an example others can safely follow. No one in the church is to consider himself superior, a dictator, or a supreme authority, for desire for superiority is opposed to the humility required for the kingdom.
The chapter gives Christ's rules for dealing with erring members and with one another, and it belongs as an introduction to that instruction. It is to be studied as a whole, remembered, pondered, obeyed, woven into Christian life, and fully carried out, bringing a different atmosphere into the family, the school, and the church. Its terms are love of God with the whole person and love of neighbor as self, tending and purifying one's own thoughts rather than fixating on others' faults so that words are not spoken carelessly or made harmful. It calls against self-glorying and a wrong course of action to receive reproof and turn from that course, to keep self under Christ's control as the great Teacher, to give gospel workers and teachers of men, women, and children ample room instead of disparaging them, and to match profession with doing the Word in daily dealings, otherwise profession is counterfeit and without the right ring.
Living Out Childlike Humility
The question about who is greatest is answered by turning attention away from self toward sympathy and love for others. True greatness willingly serves those who seem weaker or less important, treats tenderly those young in experience or weak in faith, and makes personal, unselfish effort to help those outside Christ. That service helps people, brings them to repentance, and strengthens those weak in faith.
Selfish ambition stirs selfish words and feelings and eclipses Christ's love in the soul. Growth in Christ begins instead by moving downward into humble self-knowledge and acquaintance with God. Christian character becomes simple and trustful, and humility grows by remembering and recounting God's mercies, love, goodness, and compassion.
The same desire to be greatest appears in the world in pursuit of wealth that leads people to rob and destroy one another. Against this, the lesson teaches simplicity and humility, so that God can use and care for mind and body.
Humility does not require those awaiting Christ's return to crawl or creep on the floor like children as a literal sign. True humility is shown through a dignified, Christlike life with gentleness, readiness to help others, kind speech, and unselfish acts, while treating spiritual things with sacred dignity.
Striving to be greatest comes from self-esteem and self-exaltation, erroneous imagining, worldly scheming, lusting for honor, gain, and position, from a strong masterly spirit, lack of self-control, and lack of close connection with God. It is cured when the soul is absorbed in studying and meditating the glorious truths of the Word and in practicing Christ's words, leaving no leisure for selfish ambition. Then mercy and God's love make a person kind, conciliating, merciful, humble and contrite, teachable and dependent upon God, advancing in knowledge of God and receiving His blessing and wisdom by abiding in Christ and acting with His character.
In the home the first work is to have the Spirit of Christ abiding there so every member takes the cross and follows where Jesus leads, with parents ordering the education of their children to please the Lord and lead them to Christ. In the school the whole instruction is to be studied and fully carried out to bring a different atmosphere, and this bears directly on harshness toward students. Shaking or striking students in passion and forcing the will upon them shows lost self-control and no good influence unless students feel loved, and bruising a child bruises the teacher's own soul more by destroying manhood. Whatever spirit prompts such harshness must be cut off even if as dear and painful as severing a right arm, and replaced with love and tenderness and forbearance, receiving children in Christ's name, binding them to the heart, taking them alone to pray and talk with them, showing them the will of Christ, dealing with human minds as tenderly as Christ has dealt with them, understanding that a child's trials are greater to the child than adult trials are to adults, and seeking to save the lost instead of offending them.
The same instruction exposes critical, disrespectful conduct by a teacher and the way she and Haskell treated W. C. White. Their attitude failed its principles of humility and greatness, while White's willingness to serve and strengthen others rather than seek the highest place showed the opposing spirit.
To be esteemed by men is nothing, but to be commended by God is of real value. All who would be true Christians must give up seeking to be first in order to obtain His favor and recognition, humble themselves before Him in changed childlike humility in order to receive His forgiveness, yield themselves to God, and never contend for supremacy.