"The First Shall Be Last"

Mark 9:35, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” – Jesus
What did Jesus mean by this paradox? In order to be first, we must be last…
Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 20:26-28, “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
What did Jesus mean by being first? How can you be first by being last???
The disciples asked Jesus who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus called a little child over to him and answered in Matthew 18:3, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever HUMBLES himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” This was what Jesus meant by being first- the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Note!! The keyword there is HUMBLE. Like I mentioned before in a previous post, in Philippians 2:5-8, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance of man, he HUMBLED himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”
In John 13, Jesus washed the feet of all his disciples, including one of them who was going to betray Jesus a few nights later. The Lord himself was a servant to his disciples. Likewise, we should all be servants and take every opportunity we can to serve others. We are called to be Christ-like. Therefore, we should take on the attitude of a servant, and we will be glorified after we have passed away, just as Christ was glorified. Then, the last will become first.
What does it mean to be a servant? Well specifically, we are servants of God, and we must be willing to surrender ourselves to the Lord to be used by him for his good works. You don’t have to have skills or talents. Jesus’s disciples were made out of fisherman and other humble occupations, and not men of authority like the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were not wise men, but God’s grace was sufficient for them as His power is made perfect in weakness.
God’s views differ from the views of man. As far as man is concerned, being first is to be one of the best among the rest, or being rich. Why else do you think man is sinful? Pride is one of the factors, because we always want to be better than anyone else. Most of the time, this drives us to be jealous and do all sorts of inappropriate things to gain what we want. This happens almost always in our lives. But as for God, He just wants us to be pure and innocent like a little humbled child. God loves us the way we are. So… why try so hard to please everyone else when you’re the treasure of the highest being?