The greatest among you must be a servant. (Matthew 23:11 NLT)

Our Lord’s idea of the greatest is much different than ours.

Come with me and imagine what might have happened in heaven.

There once was a man named Wilbur.  He was a member of a large church, and although many knew him by sight, very few even knew his name.  He was often seen around the Church doing tasks like putting up and taking down tables and chairs for social events.  He did everything behind the scenes to make Church happen without any fanfare. 

He never taught a Sunday school class, and heaven forbid that he would ever preach a sermon, yet the Church would not function properly without him.

He served the Church his whole life.  He passed away and went to his eternal reward.  There were many empty seats at his funeral service.

When he arrived at heaven’s door, he saw a line of people waiting to be greeted by the Lord Jesus.  The line consisted of pastors, teachers, evangelists, and other prominent Christian leaders.  Jesus motioned to him to come to the front of the line.  He looked behind him, thinking he must be gesturing to someone else, but no, there was no one following him. 

Just as he was to be greeted by Jesus, someone he walked past shouted, why is he at the front of the line?  Another said this man has never even preached a sermon.  All the others in the line nodded in agreement.  Jesus said, yes, this man has never preached a sermon like all of you have.  I appreciate what you have done for me, yet, at least in part, you did it because of the affirmation and acceptance you got from the people to whom you preached.  My servant here did all he did just because he loved me.  Jesus stretched out his hand, looked into Wilbur’s eyes, and said, come in, my servant friend.

No, I have no evidence this ever happened, but I think it could have.  Ultimately, it is not what man thinks but only what God thinks about you.

Are you one of the greatest in the Kingdom?

The moral to this story is not that God loves unseen servants more than seen ones.  It is not about what we do but why we do what we do.

I worked for seventeen years as a missionary with Youth With A Mission.  My missionary work has taken me to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Spain, and Ukraine.  I hold a Masters of Education in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Commonwealth University.  [email protected]