Day 6: Jesus Serving

“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant to all.” Mark 9:35

If you have a boat, you quickly realize how much time, energy, money, and physical work you spend on keeping that boat. You may own the boat, but you could argue, the boat kind of owns you, too.

Everyone is always serving something or someone. Everything that you spend your time, energy, money, and passion on owns a part of you. It’s not a question of if you are serving, but rather, who, or what, are you serving?

When we look at the life of Jesus, it is clear that He came to serve us. In Matthew 20:28, Jesus even says this about Himself,

“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.”

These exact words were also recorded in Mark and John. They must have had a significant impact on the disciples!

Jesus was all about people. Every other ancient culture valued property over people. Jews were the only ones that did not have capital punishment for damage of goods or property. Their Persian and Mesopotamian neighbors, who issued capital punishment for damage of goods, did not value human life over material things. In Exodus, God was planning to set His people apart from others, and one big way they were different was how they treated one another.

Jesus knew and claimed to be God, and yet, as God, did not demand service for Himself but instead called Himself a servant of people.

Each of us has unique talents and gifts that God calls us to use in our service. Jesus offered His very life in service to us. Though our sin had separated us from God, Jesus left the heights of heaven to become one of us. And not just one of us, but as Philippians 2 describes Jesus, he would further descend and become a servant obedient to death.

Why did He do all of this? Simply and powerfully put, because He loves you!

Through Jesus’ ultimate act of service, we can now not only be in right relationship with Him but can be His very followers!

Challenge

Identify your “boat.” What/who it is that you are serving? One easy way to see what you are in service to is to look back at your time. So, look at the last week of your life, and rank the top 10 things you spend time on. Are these things done as a follower of Jesus or in a self-serving life?