Skip to main content

A Life of Servitude

   When we are living in the Kingdom of God, we have to abide by a completely different lifestyle than that of the world. The word tells us that to the world, the wisdom of God seems like foolishness. It is completely counterintuitive! Today, I think of this in the context of leadership. To the world, to be a great leader you are often taught to assert yourself and do whatever it takes to get on top. In the Kingdom we are taught that being recognized as a leader means putting yourself below others and letting God raise you up as He chooses to.

Luke 14:11  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (NLT)
    
    So what does that look like? Well, it looks a lot like Jesus. During His life on earth, Jesus never asserted Himself over anyone-- even though He is the true King over all!! That's crazy humble. The mere fact that He even came down to earth in the form of a man is mind-blowing. Why would our savior come down to earth and not assert Himself as the true Lord over us and make us rightfully bow down and serve Him? Two reasons come to mind. One is because He created us with free will and wants us to decide whether or not to love and serve Him on our own. And the second reason is because Jesus was and is the ultimate leader,  leading by example. Our all-powerful King came down to earth to show us how it's done! What great love He has for us.

    The word tells us how humble He was and we see it again and again through His short time in ministry. He silences demons that call Him out as God and He even refers to Himself as the "Son of Man." Talk about humility. Additionally, Jesus was constantly serving those around Him. He miraculously fed crowds of thousands out of His love for them and even washed His own disciples' feet-- the ultimate sign of lowliness. And He tells us to live our lives in the same manner. 

Philippians 2:3-8 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! (NIV)


John 13:12-17 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master,nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (NIV)

    If we truly wish to be great in the Kingdom, we must lay aside being great in the world. We must forget our selfish wishes to be recognized and respected and lower ourselves to the lowest position imaginable. Be that person who comes early to church to help set up and stays late to help tear down. Not just in your church. Be that person in your job, your school, your family. Go out of your way to do everything you can to show others Christ's love through servitude. Become a servant. And do it with a joyful heart! God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

    And He says that whatever we do to the least of these, we are doing to Him (Matthew 25:40). Think about it that way. Whether you are thanked, recognized, or not even noticed-- it shouldn't matter when we get to serve our King! Shouldn't we jump for any opportunity to do that? It is a pleasure to be used in the Kingdom in any and every way. Let's start living our lives in servitude. That'll be sure to get Jesus some recognition! And it will fulfill our hearts as we serve Him by serving others. 

Matthew 20:26-28 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (NIV)


Galatians 5:13-14 For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement:Love your neighbor as yourself. (HCSB)

Mark 9:35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (NIV)

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (NIV)

Comments

  1. What an awesome post!! At the end, I thought to myself: what a great picture of servitude she laid out. And then I looked back at the beginning and there it was in the title! Absolutely love reading these posts every day. Keep going strong in Jesus!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! Thank you Sammie!! I appreciate the support and encouragement more than you know (:

    Lauren

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think Twice

    When the Holy Spirit was sent to us on earth, it made Jesus readily available to all. Now He lives in us, not among us. When you are a born again Christian, you now have Jesus dwelling inside you. How does that affect your daily life? Do you realize that you are a reflection of the one you carry with you everywhere you go?    Sadly, that doesn't mean much to a lot of Christians. Instead of using Jesus as an instrument of love, hope, and salvation, they use His name as a weapon. They spend their time boycotting instead of praying for Jesus to change hearts. Telling others that the God who IS love, hates them. Letting others know that they will go to hell for their decisions, instead of lighting the way to heaven. Let me be clear: this is wrong! No one wants to believe in a hateful, unforgiving God. I certainly don't. That's why I follow Jesus.     Even if you aren't the one openly boycotting on street corners, be careful of the image of God you are g...

Seeing by Faith

    When we are trying to live by faith, the things that inhibit us are the things that are right under our noses. We are trained to live based on the things around us. We don't believe anything if we don't see proof of it. The things around us are more our reality than what we say we believe in. But the Bible tells us that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. We are to live based on what we know is truth, not by what we see.     The things we see around us distract us from the reality we should be living in. What is unseen is eternal and more important than the things of this world. We need to fix our eyes on what is lasting and know the difference. We need to be filling ourselves with the word and not the world. When we are distracted by the world, we forget the truth. We become discouraged and doubt our faith. We need to draw strength from one another so that we may run the race with endurance.     What is determining your reality today? Is i...

Receiving Graciously Pt. 1

    We've all heard sermons and teachings about the importance of giving, yet not many leaders in the church seem to cover the topic of receiving. We know that it s hugely important that we give and give abundantly to those around us. We use what God has blessed us with to bless those around us. But what happens when you're on the other end of that blessing? When God uses someone else to bless you? There are two big mistakes when it comes to receiving-- those who take too much and those who won't receive at all. Let's start with the former and finish with the latter tomorrow.     We all know those people who will try to get anything they can out of others. Free food? Let me stuff my pockets for later. You're buying? Let me order the most expensive thing off the menu. Is that attitude really exhibiting the characteristics of Jesus? No. Jesus was no beggar and no taker. He wasn't one to take everything He could get out of others and we shouldn't be either. O...