A Servant’s Heart
Daily Reading: Genesis 38, Psalm 38, Mark 10, Proverbs 7
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:35-45
It is extremely difficult for human beings to set aside our ego and personal agendas.
James and John had been walking the earth with Jesus, seeing miracle after miracle, hearing a message of constantly preached of loving God and loving other’s as yourself, and yet even they were prone to thinking about their place in the hierarchy.
It wasn’t enough to be one of the 12, they wanted places of prominence. They desired to be elevated above the other disciples.
I think we can all relate to this feeling at various points in our lives.
We get that job we are hoping for, and quickly our mind turns towards how we can get more responsibility, a promotion, and a raise. Our thankfulness for the blessing of getting the job in the first place is short lived.
We are accepted into one of our top colleges, but shortly after arriving on campus the joy of that acceptance fades, and we are more focused on our GPA and how we stack up compared to our other classmates.
We earn a spot on a sports team, and are quickly focused on playing time and personal stats.
This list goes on.
Jesus came with a radically different message.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.
I think most Christians would say, “I want this to be the posture of my heart. I want to be someone who is more focused on other’s than on myself.”
But it is so darn hard!
It is not bad to have goals. It if perfectly fine to work hard to get a good GPA, be so valuable at work that we earn a promotion, or work to improve as a player to earn more playing time.
God wants us to give our absolute best at everything he has called us to in life.
The question is, how do we respond when it isn’t going our way?
How do we react if we don’t think we are “getting what we deserve?”
Do we become resentful or do we throw ourselves into the service of others?
The best co-workers I have every worked with were always the ones going above and beyond to help the team win, even if it meant setting their own personal agenda aside. Amazingly enough, those are the people that almost always end up succeeding in the end, even if not at first.
The best teammates I ever had on every sports team I played on, were those that didn’t care about their own stats and were less worried about how their minutes stacked up compared to other players. They just wanted to do whatever it took to help the team win.
When we shift the posture of our heart to “what is in it for me” to “how can I serve”, amazing things start to happen.
Next time we are tempted to focus more on our own personal version of wanting to sit on the right and left side of Jesus in honor, let’s take a step back and ask the Father, “Where can I be of service today?”
Daily Reflection & Dialogue
What is the area of life for you where it is the hardest to adopt the “servant of all” mindset?
