The Scriptures, spiritually understood, reveal that Christliness is the gauge of true worthiness and that ascension above materiality is mankind's necessity. The belief in material existence, however, has so beclouded human consciousness that today there appears to be a tendency to seek advancement or an improved status through means other than individually earned merit. Such methods lower morale and lead not to progress but to retrogression.
Spiritual ascension connotes buoyant rising above materiality by innate spiritual power and cannot be accomplished by material means. When the ambitious Salome, mother of James and John, requested Jesus to promote her two sons to key positions in the discipleship, the Way-shower was evidently astounded at her request, for he replied (Matt. 20:22): "Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" When the young men answered in the affirmative, Jesus assured them in substance that they would have the opportunity to prove their statement, but that elevation to positions coequal with him could be accomplished only through their own spiritual worthiness.
When the other disciples expressed indignation at this ambitious attempt at promotion, Jesus specified the qualifications for true worthiness as follows: "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." The Psalmist wrote in similar vein (Ps. 24:3-5): "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation."
