Mark 9:35
He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”
According to the world’s view, people who want to be great,
who want to be first, or want to have more have a constant battle for that
place of first, for that place of “greatness”, and a battle for more and
more. When they trust in themselves for
all of that, it is a miserable life. However, Jesus told His disciples
something totally different. He said if
you want to be first, let others go ahead of you. If you want to be great, serve others, and
esteem others more highly than yourself.
Greatness is not found at the front of the line, it is found at the back
of the line. Many people are so
self-centered and feel that the world owes them everything. I know that it must be a miserable place, one
with no real happiness, peace, or joy when people are in a daily battle to have
more and to get ahead. It is such a
better place to keep your eyes on God living by His principles. When you leave the “rat race” of the world
and truly trust God to promote you and trust Him for your every need, you can
then live as Jesus told His disciples in Mark 9:35 and live to be a servant of
all. You should begin to look at all
others as better than yourself. Mark 10:45
says,“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."
The one God of the Universe chose to come to this world and to be a
servant, so what better reason to serve others than to model our lives after
Him. A pastor once said in a sermon that
the basic problem in the world today is that men wish to do as little as
possible to get as much as possible. It
is only when they are filled with the desire to put more into life than they
take out of that life for themselves that they will be happy and
prosperous. I believe that it is only
when you begin to live by the Kingdom principles and choose to serve others, to
esteem others more highly than yourself, to let others go before you, that we
will truly be happy. By doing this we
should put our full trust in God to promote us and take the pressure off of
ourselves to have to fight for everything on our own. The pastor also said, “the world says if you
want to become great, become a star. God says if you want to become great,
become a servant. The world says if you
want to become great, see how many people you can get to serve you. God says if
you want to become great, see how many people you can serve.” I know that by worldly views and standards
all of this seems “upside down,” but I’ve lived both ways, and I tell you that
by living by God’s principles and fully trusting Him and serving Him, it is a
peace and joy beyond understanding.
Jesus performed the ultimate act of service by dying on the cross for
sins that He didn’t even commit. Can’t we purpose to model after Him and serve
others?
Lord Jesus, I love You.
Thank You that I do not have to try to promote myself. Thank You that I don’t have to live as I once
did in the rat race of worldly mindset trying to get more and more for
myself. Thank You, Lord, for helping me
to always be servant minded, to always esteem anyone that I come in contact
with as more highly than myself. Thank
You, Lord, that as I have witnessed Your faithfulness to Your word as I let
others go ahead of me and as I trust in You to promote me as I serve
others. Thank You, dear Lord, for Your
many blessings. All I ask in Jesus’ most
precious holy name. Amen.
Written by Donna Shea
Written by Donna Shea