“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” Mark 10.45 NKJV
“Want to be a servant? Notice your reaction when someone treats you like one!“
My thoughts today are about “growing a servant-heart.”
Who do you think of as having the consummate servant-heart? It’s Jesus, hands down. And you and I are called to be just like Jesus. John 13:12-15 NIV. Now that is a most staggering goal. “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is.” 1 John 3.2 NIV. But that is then, and this is now. We could more accurately describe the process as becoming more like Jesus. Not one of us is a finished product in this life. The process really is a progressive and incremental work of the Holy Spirit that is life long. Considering what He has to work with that’s not all that long. It doesn’t happen too quickly, and doesn’t’ happen too naturally either!
There are days when being even a little more like Jesus seems a pretty big task. And people often have fairly strange ideas of what that might look like. Do you become itinerant and move from place to place saving souls, healing people, and recruiting disciples? Do you dress funny or quote the Bible in Old English phrasing? I always think that most spiritual things are a lot more practical and simple than you might make them. If you could make becoming more like Jesus mystical and complex, you might excuse yourself from the responsibility to even try.
One of the ways to be more like Jesus is to commit yourself to finding opportunities to serve others, like Jesus did. Jesus didn’t have to serve; you don’t have to either. You get to serve; you choose to do so, because that’s how you will be most like Him, and will be the most happy, and you believe that Jesus pleases Jesus most.
Jesus shocked His disciples when He knelt to wash their feet in Jerusalem’s upper room. See john 13. They could not imagine such a thing. It was culturally unthinkable. It was cross grain to their pride of self and station. They were looking to be heads of state in His new government. Mark 10:35-41 NIV. He was looking for servants of God who cared more for others than themselves. They had a lot to learn, and it would be a hard lesson for them.
Jesus turned the world system upside down. The ones insisting on being served are not the more important in His Kingdom. Those with a humble and caring heart who choose to wrap a servant’s towel around their own waist and joyfully give themselves to serve, Jesus says are the great ones. Luke 22:24-27 NIV. The one who serves is not demeaned; he is elevated in God’s eyes. And that’s the only evaluation that really matters, isn’t it?
My dear friend and spiritual father, Campbell McAlpine, wisely said, “Allen, if you want to know how well you are doing as a servant, notice your reaction when someone treats you like one!” Now that reveals a lot about your progress, or lack thereof. It is really good for you to have a strong dose of servanthood until it becomes a lifestyle. When you actually enjoy it, you will be growing a servant-heart and becoming more like Jesus.
My prayer for you today is that you discover the joy of seeking to serve God and others.