"Scripture describes a Kingdom comprised of diverse people with all manner of gifts and talents. Each citizen of this heaven-based Kingdom has been given an important work to do. Those with highest standing in heaven are the people who, in our earthly value system, are considered least important.
It is disquieting to realize how little value I attribute to 'the least of these', the ones deemed by our Lord to be 'great in the Kingdom' (Matthew 5:19) I have viewed them as weak ones waiting to be rescued, not bearers of divine treasures. The dominance of my giving overshadows and stifles the rich endowments that the Creator has invested in those I have considered destitute. I selectively ignore that the moneyed, empowered, learned ones will enter this Kingdom with enormous difficulty.
One who would be a leader, I am cautioned, has a greater weight of responsibility to honor the despised, share his earthly possessions, model interdependency and encourage the use of gifts concealed in the unlikeliest among us. To the leader, then, the gift of humility is offered- the gift is the salvation of the proud, which comes with great difficulty from learning to receive from those who are the least on Earth, yet greatest in the Kingdom." - Robert Lupton, Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life.
I'm reading this book for my third time, this time discussing it with a co-worker and an intern in our ministry. In my reading last night of the first part of the book for today's discussion, the paragraph in bold was the one that stuck out the most to me. This is truly the journey...to empty oneself so that one might learn mutuality, interdependency, and authentic community.
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