Upside-down

“But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Matthew 19:30
In many Scriptures, Jesus teaches us how the values of the kingdom of God are completely opposite to the values of the world. The world says, ‘Get ahead at all costs’. But in God’s sight, those who trample over others to pursue their own interests are the low-lifes (Ex. 22:22-24, Deut. 27:19, etc.). The world says, ‘Look out for number one’. But God tells us to “consider others better than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3).
God looks at the heart of each person. Those who are seen as important by the world, may not be so in eternity. “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Prov. 3:34, Jas. 4:6, 1 Pet. 5:5). Some people even fall into the trap of thinking, ‘Well, I come from a ‘Christian’ nation – I will be more blessed in eternity than people from other, pagan, countries.’ Not necessarily so. It was a similar situation in Jesus’ time: the Jews in general and the Pharisees in particular, believed that they alone were going to heaven. They believed that Gentiles only existed to keep the fires of hell burning. Gentiles, who historically were the ‘last’ to be offered salvation (the Jews being ‘first’), will receive some of the highest places in heaven.
How then should we live? Don’t worry about anybody else and what they are doing or how successful they are. But live in humility and faithfulness to God, and He will reward you for it in eternity.