“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

"Ransom" is a payment made for the release of a captive. This infers that someone is in captivity. And while this is an unpopular idea, the person that is in captivity is you.

The timing of this statement by Jesus here is profound. It follows the request of James and John to sit on the right and the left hand of Jesus in the coming kingdom. These two men blinded by personal ambition completely missed seeing the mission of Christ - "to serve, and to give his life." Christ's mission was not a crown, but a cross. It was not personal glory, but God's glory. It was a path of sacrifice, humility, pain, and suffering not for personal ambition  - "to be served,"  but one of godly ambition - "to serve and to give his life." So as these two men postured and positioned out of personal ambition, their jockeying blinded them from seeing both their own depravity and the ultimate mission. A mission of ransoming blinded men.

DO THIS: Don't let your ambition blind you.

PRAYER: God, help me today to set aside my ambition, and live entirely focused on you and what you want to accomplish.