• Finish Last

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    From the minute we are born, we're launched into a race in which we're expected to finish first. Our parents brag about when our first word was uttered and tell stories of how we walked earlier than any other kid on the block. Our teachers train us to reach for the top and get the highest test score.

    This trend continues right into adulthood when everyone races to buy the bigger house, drive the best car, work their way to the top of the company, and ultimately, come out ahead of everyone else.

    Countercultural Teaching


    Yet even though this way of thinking is so ingrained into our world, Jesus tells us something different. He tells us that the last will be first, and the first will actually be last. Now living in the culture that we do, this doesn't make a lot of sense, but it doesn't make it any less true.

    In the book of Matthew, it's recorded that Peter goes up to Jesus and says "we have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" (19:27) Here Peter is like most of us in our race to the finish. He wants to know what's in it for him. He gave up everything and now wants something to show for it.

    Jesus' answer to him was revolutionary then and it still is today. He said:

    "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." (Matthew 19:28-30)


    Abandoning The Race To The Top


    Basically what Jesus is getting at here is that the Kingdom of God operates completely opposite to life the way most of us live it. He tells Peter the same message that He tells us, that if we want to follow Him we have to abandon the worldly race to the top and instead give up everything to follow Him wherever He leads us. And while this kind of living might not lead us to a the riches of this world, we have our reward awaiting us when we die, the inheritance of eternal life and blessings in heaven beyond what we could ever comprehend!

    While this world teaches us the best life comes based on what we are able to accumulate, Jesus teaches us true blessings come based on what we give away.

    It's time for you and I to stop looking to worldly standards when we build our lives and make our decisions and instead look to Jesus and model our lives completely after His. Because I don't know about you, but I want to finish last.

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