Called to serve
“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26)
Our Bible verse this week focuses on humility in a different way that directly relates to the mission and ministry of The Lutheran Home Association.If someone were to refer to you as their servant, you likely would not take that as a compliment. However, in our verse this week Jesus seeks to teach us that thinking like, acting like and being a servant is not humiliating, but a compliment and exalting in the Christian faith. When Jesus says this, he is not asking us to do anything more than he did. Jesus’ coming to earth and the 33 years he lived here was all about being a servant –a servant to and for you and all people.
Jesus didn’t have to leave the glory and comforts of heaven to come to earth. Jesus didn’t have to endure all the ridicule, mockery, rejection and ultimately death, but he willingly did it for you and for me.
Having freed us from our sin and all the times we were too arrogant to serve others, Jesus puts before us the command of our verse this week. He doesn’t ask us what title we have or what we have done in the past. He tells us to look at where he has put us in life – in the ministry of TLHA, in our family and in other places in life — and asks us to think about who we can serve and how we can serve. It might be doing what you do day in and day out without complaining or feeling sorry for yourself or wondering when someone is going to take note of what you do. It might require taking a serious look at how you think and making some painful and difficult adjustments.
Thinking like and acting like a servant is not easy, nor always seemingly beneficial or popular. But when you consider what the perfect servant, Jesus, did for you and me, we can give him our thanks by serving like he served.