January 25
	But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
	Mark 10:31
This statement runs cross-current to that which our culture propagates. Our society is becoming increasingly competitive in its orientation. And yet those who win society’s competition seem to be increasingly disillusioned with the prize. That is, people who get to the top often find the top isn’t what they thought it would be. This explains why top athletes, for example, often find themselves being sucked in to the drug scene. They got the prize — but the prize was too small. Jesus comes on the scene and calls us away from competition. How does this work out practically? In your mind’s eye, travel back two thousand years ago to a place called Bethesda where you see hundreds of people with all sorts of physical ailments positioned around a pool of water. Why are they there? The understanding of the day was that the first one in the water after an angel supposedly stirred it would be healed. Consequently, these blind, lame, hurting people jockeyed for position in order that they might be first in the pool. But what does Jesus do when He arrives at Bethesda? He finds a lame man seemingly at the back of the pack and says, ‘Do you want to be made whole?’ ‘I have no man to help me into the water,’ the man answers. ‘I don’t have a network. I don’t have the skills. My college education is outdated. I don’t have connections. How can I compete in this culture? I have no one to help me.’ This man had no stock options. He wasn’t a member of the health club, not on the city softball team. He wasn’t competitive, yet it was he and he alone who captured Jesus’ attention that day. ‘Arise,’ Jesus said. ‘Take up your bed. I’m freeing you from this pool of competition.’ And the man was healed (John 5:8-9). I believe Jesus says the same thing to us today. Maybe you’ve been jockeying, struggling, planning, conniving, attempting to get the edge, to make it happen, to get ahead financially, relationally, or even in ministry. If so, I encourage you to take a mental trip to Bethesda and be reminded again that the paradox of the Kingdom is that the first shall be last and the last first.