Luke 22:24-27

I have been meditating on these few verses for weeks.  What a depth of insight about what I am like and how I was designed.  Every sermon I have heard on this passage could be summed up by some kind of admonition against being prideful. But,  I have been wondering WHY the disciples felt the need to argue about who was the greatest among them.  They had just completed a survey of each other wondering who was going to be the betrayer.  Now they have gone from who was the worst to who was the best!   Why do I feel the need to compare myself with someone else?  Sometimes I feel elated when I think I am better than someone and other times I am depressed because I don't measure up.  But still I cannot seem to avoid the desire to compare.  It is as if I need someone other than myself to validate my worth. 

I wonder if I should try to avoid the comparative impulse or am I to learn to embrace it by directing its focus?  I grew up being taught in church to avoid pride whatever the cost.  Never figured out how to do that very well.

Then I was thinking about what the world must have been like at the beginning.  That longing to look somewhere for validation must have been there from the beginning.  Adam and Eve were tempted to be dissatisfied with who they were.  Satan told them they could be more than they were.  Instead of allowing God to validate them... that they were "good" as it says in Genesis, they chose to look elsewhere.  They were looking for another opinion.

I think this is how I can fill that empty spot in me that was designed to be filled by God alone:

1. I have to direct my focus by looking at Jesus not another human being.  The disciples were arguing among themselves... they were not comparing themselves to Jesus but to each other.  Jesus' response to their discussion was basically Look at me, "I am among you as the one who serves" v27
2. I experience this focus by/in worship. After I look at Jesus and compare myself to him I humbly bow.  He inspires me.  He humbles me.  "I AM AMONG you as THE one who serves"v27  With our thoughts we choose to compare ourselves with Jesus.  But based on the truth of who he is, he invites us to experience who he is in a profoundly personal way.
3. I accept my validation from Jesus. Jesus said, "but it is not this way with YOU".   Jesus did not say it should be this way with people, Christians, Jews, humans, etc.  He said "you".  These were special people to Him.  He did not walk away from them because they didn't get how to live.  They had value to him.  In the next few hours he would demonstrate his ultimate validation of them by giving up his life on their behalf. 
4. I should practice my focus by service.  Jesus said they must "become like a servant."  Serving someone else helps me direct my longing for validation back to God and away from people.  This is one practical thing I can do to discipline myself to avoid comparison with others.  Become the servant.  The one person no one wants to compare themselves to.