The Race to be Last

‘First one to the car wins!’ My competitive children, aged four and six, raced out the door, down the steps and across the drive to the door of the car. The victorious shout of ‘I win!’ from one child was followed by a cry of despair from the other. When I opened the door, the competition continued with them trying to determine who could buckle their seatbelt faster.

One day, my husband told them that Jesus said, ‘The last will be first, and the first will be last’ (Matthew 20:16). From then on, they tried to be the last to the car and the last to buckle their seatbelt. When they each refused to buckle their seatbelts until the other one did, I was sure we weren’t going to leave the drive at all that day. I was frustrated by their standoff but encouraged that they’d applied the lesson, even if they were taking it a little too literally.

To be honest, I don’t want to be last. I don’t want to be left out of anything. But Jesus is clear that those who humble themselves are honoured in the end. In today’s reading, Paul instructed the early Christians to think of others first. If I want my life to look more like Jesus’ life, then I have to rid myself of the desire to be first. Like my children, I can strive to be last, not because I think nothing of myself but because I think more of others.

Prayer: Dear God, when we want to be first, show us how we can humbly serve others. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen