There is no need for any person to strive for position, to imitate, to usurp. God has determined from the creation of the world each individual's proper role.

If we will present our body as a living sacrifice we will find the plan of God for our life. It is only as we find God's plan for us that we enter love, joy, and peace in the Spirit of God. This is the Kingdom, God's righteousness, and the "rest" of God.

It is not necessary for us to launch out in religious activities unless the Lord leads us to do so. The Scriptures direct us to fear God and keep His commandments; to provide for the orphans and widows and keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

It is good to live quietly before the Lord, working with our hands that we may have the ability to provide for others. This is acceptable to the Father in Heaven.

Throughout history the world has witnessed the wild struggling of men and women as they have sought to outdo one another, to knock down other people in order to obtain advantage. There is no need for this. Promotion comes from God alone.

Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. (Psalms 75:5,6)

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. (Psalms 127:1,2)

The Lord Jesus is our example of quiet obedience to God. He did not grasp His right to live in an exalted state. Instead, He refrained from all seeking of glory for Himself. He humbled Himself and lived as a lowly individual.

Self-seeking men, encouraged by Satan, put the Lord Jesus to death. But God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every other name.

Jesus is Lord over all. Jesus has all authority and power in Heaven and on the earth. All that He turned away from in the wilderness of temptation is now His. All the glory, beauty, joy, love, peace, and every other desirable thing and circumstance can now be found only in Jesus. But He never lifted a finger to obtain these for Himself.

As the Lord said, the Kingdom is subjected to violence and violent people take the Kingdom by force. But they cannot keep it. All of their gain will, in the end, be given to the meek of the earth. It is the meek who will inherit the earth, not the violent and grasping.

To sit at Jesus' right hand in the Kingdom of God will be given to those for whom such an exalted station has been prepared. No individual not of the Father's choice will ever gain such preeminence—not if he spends his entire life in scheming, trickery, and violence.

If we are willing to wait with Jesus, patiently enduring denial and affliction, we will reign in glory with Him. But if we seek to save our life we will lose it.

The Day of the Lord will witness the Divine judgment falling upon all who are lifted up in the envy of Bashan.

For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, (Isaiah 2:12-14)

But those who wait for God shall prevail.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever. (Psalms 68:16) (from The Mountains of Bashan)