Matthew 20:26-28
“It is not this way among you, but whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you shall 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.”
This is God’s order. To be great we don’t outfight, outgun or push others aside to reach the top. But we are to serve. If we are to be the greatest we are to serve all. Jesus was the living demonstration. He will soon wash all their feet. That personally grosses me out. Yet, Jesus did it without hesitation.
We can get all sorts of misunderstandings with this. We can have opinions and are allowed to assert ourselves. We aren’t to squash others. We aren’t to leap out with our opinions. We aren’t to compete like that. It’s ok to be strong, just not to step on others.
It helps to know we are dependent on the Lord. Proverbs 3:5,6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” We can’t lean on our understanding. We will get frustrated. We yield that to Him. We also acknowledge Him in all our ways. Those are big.
Yielding to Him says that we trust Him. More than we trust ourselves. That takes some time to let that sink in. We want what we want awfully bad. We go through times in which we have to battle to let go. In time we learn how worthless those things were. We valued them so highly, but they were just tinsel.
It helps as we learn that He is a good God who gives good things. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.” He rewards us.
The disciples asked Jesus about all they left behind. Here was his answer, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life”, (Matthew 19:29). We don’t have to worry that we won’t get our due.
When I look at my life I feel so blessed. I feel like I have set aside my selfish goals and allowed Him to lead. I would have never expected to be here. I agree with David, “My cup overflows”.
I can serve others. I can put them ahead of me. Another issue that we have to deal with is timing. Sometimes we feel that if we don’t seize the moment we will have lost an opportunity. That may be so. Sometimes we take it, sometimes not. We have to pray about that (acknowledge Him in all our ways). Sometimes serving someone will cause us to lose that opportunity. That’s also true. We put that in the Lord’s hands. He will give us wisdom. Sometimes we let it go so we can serve someone. We can’t worry about regrets. Give it to Him.
Being the servant of all is God’s way. Simply amazing. I wouldn’t have guessed it. No one would have. Those that live for power and dominance wouldn’t get it. I still don’t get it at times.
Lord, help us to serve others. Help us to take those moments to do so. Help us to trust that You’ve got us and to boldly serve. Thank You.