Jesus taught his disciples by illustration about what kind of person God considers important.

Mark 9:33-37

33 Jesus and his disciples returned to Capernaum town. When they were in the house, he asked them, “What were you discussing while we were traveling on the road?” 34 But they did not reply. They were ashamed to reply because, while they were traveling, they had been arguing with each other about which one of them would be the most important when Jesus became king. 35 He sat down, he summoned the twelve disciples to come close to him, and then he said to them, “If anyone wants God to consider him to be the most important person of all, he must consider himself to be the least important person of all, and he must serve everyone else.” 36 Then he took a child and placed him among them. He took the child in his arms and then he said to them, 37 “Those who, because they love me, welcome a child like this one, God considers that they are welcoming me. So it is as though they are also welcoming God, who sent me.”