Mark 10.31 promises many people who seem to be important now will be the least important then.

Everyone wants to be respected, honored and esteemed.

This is a natural by-product of being created in the image of God Who alone is to be respected, honored and esteemed above all others whether in heaven or on earth. Most people are living to increase their esteem before men rather than before God.

At best when we are successful at being great among men we are esteemed highly for only a few decades. While the best of us may be enshrined in a hall of fame our memory of them will fade before a century has lapsed.

Men forget because men die and new men arise who posture for popularity and praise.

To be highly esteemed in this world is to be powerful or wealthy, beautiful or athletic, achieved by those who are keenly focused upon their own glory.

In God’s Kingdom people never die so the esteemed are never forgotten.

In God’s Kingdom the great live forever so are forever honored by those who live with them.

To receive God’s esteem and therefore eternal honor in His Kingdom is to live on earth as God’s servant working as much as possible for the growth of God’s honor and glory on earth as it is in heaven.

God highly esteems the person who humbly obeys His commands completely and uses his time, treasure and talent to win people to Jesus Christ and help them understand Him better as God and Savior of the world.

It is the person unashamed of God in this world who will be loudly acclaimed in the next world – forever.