Serving

But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 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 10:43-45

The world system would say we've got it all backwards. No one will promote our agenda, so it's up to us to self-promote, advertise, posture, and even exploit. But Jesus said, amidst conversions by His disciples as to who was greatest, "it is not this way among you." With one broad sweep, He declared the methodology and ideals of the world system off-limits for His followers. In fact, He absolutely turned the system upside-down in order to be right-side up. Is greatness your aspiration? It's achieved through servanthood. Is first-class priority your ambition? Head to the back of the line.

Lest we think these are detached, impersonal ideals, Jesus commends His own example as exhibit A: "even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." We need look no further for clues as to how it is done than this servant in action in the Gospels.

A humble servant lifestyle might sound like something that puts us on the fast track to being a doormat for others to walk on. We might agree with Jesus' call to such a lifestyle, but in our thoughts we might be saying of others, "you go first, and let's see how it works for you before I try it."

The risk of accepting Jesus' call to servanthood is that we might forgo our own recognition and status. Most of us have little recognition in the world as it is, and then to follow in Jesus' footsteps would be to forfeit what little we have. And yet does it really matter? What recognition do we really want anyway? Accordingly to Philippians 2:1-11, God elevates His Son because of His humble service and sacrifice, and will us as well if we "have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:5.

The call of Jesus is to give it all up in order to get it all and more. That sounds like a lose-to-win situation, which really is win-win. Hopefully that's a deal we can't and won't pass up.

©Steve Taylor, 2022 --Used by permission

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