“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
–Mark 10:45 (NKJV)
A baby is spoon-fed, carried, set down, lifted, and all sorts of other things that it can’t do on its own. Its cry is a demand. “Help! Serve me!” And rightfully so, because in order for a baby to survive, it needs to be served.
Unfortunately, some of us haven’t quite grown out of that mentality. “Serve me, or I might die!” Of course, none of us would say that exactly, but we act like it. We act like the world revolves around us. We think things like, “Why don’t you move over for me?” or “That’s mine.” For some of us, our mother’s still do our laundry, make our dinner, make our bed, clean up after us, do our dishes, etc. Maybe our parents love to do it, and that’s awesome! But I’m making a point: we’re subconsciously feeding our desire to be served.
Again, this is all comparable to the life of a baby. It’s actually worse than a baby! A baby can’t do anything on its own because it doesn’t have a choice, but we who are older have a choice, yet we demand to be served sometimes. Is it wrong to be served? No, absolutely not! We should consider things like that a blessing! However, when we are constantly being served at someone else’s expense, that’s when it’s a problem.
I often wonder if people really realize the magnitude of the love, compassion, and selfless sacrifice that Jesus showed us. Why is it important for us to realize those things? Because that’s what it takes to be a servant, and Jesus was the ultimate servant.
He showed us what it looks like to be a true servant in the Kingdom of God. Jesus said in Matthew 23:11-12, “ He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.” This is saying that whomever is willing to forget about himself (his own personal desires), and focus on the needs of others and serving others will be lifted up and put on display for everyone. These are the ones who will truly be blessed and see tremendous growth in their walk with the Lord.
Even Jesus did not come just to be our King, but he also came to set the standard for how we should live our lives on this earth. As the ultimate servant, He went out of his way, and out of His comfort zone so that humanity could be free from their own sin. Jesus, on many occasions in the Word, would go out of His way to bless someone. One account of Jesus’ example of servanthood was when He washed His disciple’s feet. In the time period of Jesus, this was usually the duty of a Servant, so for Jesus to do this it proves His willing heart to serve even those under Him. He didn’t care so much about His title that He overlooked His love for other people.
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So we see that Jesus set a great example for us to follow. Now, as you go through your day there will be opportunities to serve others around you. Here’s some ideas: Give someone a ride home from school if they walk, or offer to carry someone else’s books. “That’s weird… What will people think?” All I have to say to that is that I’m glad that kind of thinking didn’t stop Jesus from leaving Heaven to die for all of us… That must have been a crazy thought to other people at the time as well! However, now everyone can benefit from it!
I challenge you to be willing to go out of the way to help someone, regardless of how packed your schedule is. Jesus didn’t say, “Oh, I’m busy with this universe over here. Now’s really not a good time to go to earth and die for everyone.” Be a person that shows unconditional, selfless acts of kindness and servanthood, just like Jesus.
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“Lord, thank You for Jesus, and the example that He set for us to have a servant’s heart. Point out opportunities around me to serve and show the love of Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
-Seth Williams
RTT Intern