I Am The Greatest

I Am The Greatest

In western philosophy the statement “I am the greatest” is what drives our everyday thinking.  This phrase is what we focus upon and everything that we say and do is centered on this phrase.  The Church itself has adopted this statement as well by protruding herself above all other institutions yet she fails to see that she is not even close to being what her origins were nor is she striving to become like her original state.  The Church has fallen into the same trap that the world has in such that it has believed the lie of greatness, acceptance and security from the enemy that she is subjected to on a moment by moment basis.  It is time that individual societies and the Church realize this downfall before the violations catch up with us.

For those of us who remember a boxer by the name of Cassius Clay, who is also known as Muhammad Ali, will know that he was the one who made the statement “I am the greatest” famous.  In his eyes there was no other person in the world that could match his abilities inside the boxing ring and at that point in time it seemed like he was correct.  Not many people could challenge Ali in the ring and come out standing, for most of his opponents went down and then subsequently counted out by the referee in charge.

I remember Ali when I was a young boy and watching some of his bouts on television.  I knew that he was a very strategic person in the ring who knew his opponents well.  This understanding of his opponents went far while he was facing them in the ring, even though sometimes the bouts drug on for many rounds before any action was witnessed by the spectators.  This style of boxing and approach to his opponents only increased his status within the boxing world and reinforced the belief that he actually was the greatest.

But as we all know there would be others that followed Ali that could be set upon the same plane as his claimed status.  As time proceeded other boxers came forward with similar tactics and statements concerning their theories about boxing, some were successful and others failed miserably.  All of them had one thing in common and was to chase the ultimate prize in their weight division and become the next overall and undisputed champion of the world.  There is nothing wrong with this concept and the goals that one has to hurdle in order to achieve this status; however, one must not let this belief of being the greatest go to one’s head and bypass the true calling of the reason behind the ability one has to have the opportunity to achieve this accomplishment.

When the truth comes about with Muhammad Ali one has to remember that his claim of being the greatest eventually had its own fall and someone finally beat him at his own game.  His career was undoubtedly stunning to the world of boxing but someone eventually came along and knocked him down from that status.  Some people considered Ali to be very arrogant in this stance of greatness and I can imagine many men wished that they had the opportunity to shut his mouth up and make him eat those words of greatness.  I see a pattern here that is frightening to me in that we as a nation and of a philosophical nature have voluntarily allowed this greatness phrase take a hold within our minds and hearts enough to flaunt it throughout the world, and that many other “men” in other parts of the world have now began to seek to dethrone us because of our own arrogance on this stance.

I wish that I could say that this “greatest” phrase is only limited to the sporting world but with the overwhelming evidence that we are subjected to every day, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion that this phrase has not only crossed into the public sectors of our world but also has become a philosophy to modern thinking.  It does not take a person long each day to see this type of belief being portrayed to the world.  If a person is honest with oneself, each person who understands this concept will be appalled at our own senseless display of public fornications where it comes to this manner. 

This concept has not left out any area of western thinking and ideology and has included all aspects of life even down to the competition of national and international food chains.  As I have stated before it is sad that a country or hemisphere would boycott a food corporation because of a belief or stated policy that defines that institution.  Is it wrong to have a different opinion about the current catch phrases and beliefs that others portray, or is the reactions falling into line with the human pasts that we are so “desperately” trying to rid out of our societies?

I often hear from others that the Bible is outdated, antiquated, unrealistic, or just plain dumb in nature.  My favorite complaint that I “like” to hear from others is that the Bible is not relevant for today’s societies and we need to lose all biblical concepts that are in place.  In keeping with this theme there is an example in the Bible that one can refer to when this type of attitude presents and this example also invalidates any claim that the Bible is not relevant for today because the same situations and settings were in place for the Biblical example as it is for today.

Those who are familiar with the Bible will remember when the disciples were gathered together in a place and were debating or arguing amongst themselves about which one of them was the greatest.  Now, doesn’t this setting sound familiar with the world today?  The disciples, who were the ones that had constant relationship with Jesus, saw Him on a regular basis and physically walked with Him to different towns and events and even with this physical eye to eye contact they completely missed the point about this topic.  This is an actual event that took place thousands of years ago yet we see its genetic codes being displayed in people throughout the world today.  Nothing has changed without ways and methods of thinking because we are human and it is normal for us to place the importance of ourselves first instead of turning control of our lives over to someone else, especially a person whose meanings go contrary to what the human mind can ascertain.

Another portion of this story that relates to today’s settings is that this argument between the disciples occurred in a public place and we know this is a fact by the example that Jesus takes.  Today our world is filled with people that have opinions and it is a popular idea now-a-days to air our opinions to the entire world no matter which method we use.  Back in Jesus’ time they had no internet or television so the common methods of communication were the written word or the spoken word.  In this case the disciples were arguing so the words could have been heard by the other people that were around them.  Now today, if we watch other people’s opinions on television and then form our own ideas and thoughts about them then I guess it would be safe to say that the people around this argument would be for or against those who were participating in that argument as well.

I can imagine Jesus staring at them when He heard the question that they presented to Him and I know that Jesus did not mock them in any way or call them names or question their integrity by deeming them incompetent or simple, but He turned around and went over to the children and brought them up to Him and said something like that it is the children who will be great in the Father’s Kingdom for they have the willingness to admit that they do not understand everything, desire to learn more through experience and studying, and by having a simple faith that allows God to work through them in ways that only can be explained as unique and individual as they are in life.

What Jesus demonstrated should have had a profound effect upon the disciples and His example should have sunk deep into their hearts of how they were acting.  First Jesus made a silent statement to His disciples by choosing children as His example that they were acting just like those children in fighting over who were the smartest, closest and greatest among them.  This states that the disciples knew that they had been chosen to operate differently from other people around them and that they should be the ones to set examples to others of Jesus’ ministry, and in fact at that point they were in all reality proving to be the examples of the modern day Church and all that she wishes to represent to the world; they were acting as the future if you wish to put it in those words.

It does not matter who is the greatest on this earth or in Heaven and that concept should never approach our thinking capacity.  Our commission is not based upon status nor is it founded upon the acts of men.  Our objective in this world is to take dominion over the world that God placed in our care and to push forward His Kingdom in order to defeat the enemy that is poised to destroy us.  God does not look upon our deeds as the official records of His Kingdom, He cannot for that is a human concept which means that it is flawed in nature and thus cannot come from God.  It is our duty to have faithful hearts through Jesus in order to receive the message that God intends for us to deliver to the world.

Jesus had made it very clear not only to the disciples but also to every person that He came into contact with, including the leaders of the Jewish and Roman communities, that no one was greater than anyone else in the eyes of God and that all men were created equal in the status settings of humanity and in His eyes as well.  Humans love to elevate themselves in status when they are correct about something.  This type of platform is not necessarily a bad thing but it does present a problem when the platform becomes a stage which defines the human concept as a whole, which if Jesus had allowed to continue within the midst of the disciples could have triggered a rebellion much earlier than when it actually occurred.

This philosophy and ideology of being the greatest, biggest or the most influential has also crossed over into the modern church setting.  I could include the medieval church setting in this era but I am going to limit it to the modern times but please remember that the concepts would be similar back then as well.  The modern church wants to be accepted so it joins in kindness with the world in order to feel needed and to fit in with the on goings around her.  This ideology of acceptance has been embraced, with delight, by our enemy in many ways and we must recognize that these acts of worldly acceptance will crumble the Church as we know it.  I can list numerous patterns that the Church has taken over the past few years that support this position, but take a look at what the Church is preaching and search the content in what she is presenting to the world.

We understand that the church should be different from the world and we should also understand that the ways of the Church should not align themselves with the ways of the world.  Many of us, including myself, do not understand what the meaning, function and original design of the New Testament Church was and to be frank, not many of us care to know about her origins either.  The modern church has been established as a false intake of what Jesus established and our enemy has having a thrill a minute while we continue our course.  I do not know much about the early church that was around shortly after Jesus’ death but what I have read about her and have studied about her, we are not even close to what was created.

Our churches are filled with mush sermons that have nothing to do with repentance, God’s Ways, love, kindness, salvation or of the Holy Spirit.  There is nothing wrong with coffee and doughnuts in the foyer but when those items replace the communion table as the focus of the Church our vision is compromised and we lose the commission that Jesus commanded us to complete.  It is time we stop playing church and come back to God in such a manner of humility and ask forgiveness for the false idols that we have incorporated into His Church.  It is time that we read and understand the Bible as was written for each of our lives, both the Old and New Testaments.  It is time that we understand what the true Church means and to accept God’s ways for a perfect bride.

I believe it is time that we as a society need to understand that our way of life is no better than any other person’s in the world and we should come down from our high horse before God knocks us off from it.  The Church needs to understand that we need to not be included in this great horse as well for God will allow “great” things to occur in order to grab our attention.  God loved us so much that He sent His son to bridge the gap between God and man, a gap that we initiated and created, so I believe that we need to separate ourselves from the world and once again operate in the Spirit of truth.  And the only way we can do this is to flag the Church as spiritually defunct and allow God to re-establish His presence within her.  God promises restoration if we turn our eyes towards Him, I am doing this and I believe that you should too.

Let us voluntarily look towards the heart of a child in order to give us a spiritual direction when it comes to serving and representing God.  Jesus made His point to His disciples without cutting them down yet made His point strong enough that each of them should have recognized the importance of His teachings.  God does not desire to knock us down but if we give Him no other option, then He must do so.  We have many examples within the Bible where humanity has ignored these warnings and since we are all humans and react to things accordingly, it is safe to say that the warnings within the Bible are relevant today since things have not changed much in the battle settings.

DLB