Ransomed

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

A "Ransom" is a payment made for the release of a captive. This, of course, infers that someone is in captivity. And that someone is you, me, and every living person.

But what is especially interesting is the timing of this declaration by Jesus. It follows a request by James and John to "sit on the right and the left hand of Jesus in the coming kingdom." These two men blinded by selfish ambition completely missed the selfless ambition of Christ—"to serve, and to give his life." Christ's mission was not a crown but a cross. It was a path of sacrifice, humility, pain, and suffering not for selfish ambition ("to be served"),  but one of selfless ambition ("to serve and to give his life"). So while these two men postured and positioned out of personal ambition, their jockeying blinded them from seeing both their depravity and the ultimate mission; the 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.