…even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:28 ESV
Wow! God is really using this season to challenge me and encourage me! Day after day, God puts these gems in front on me, encouraging me with whatever I am struggling with on that day and that part of the journey. I find myself being taken on a journey of discovery, one I was not expecting or thought myself ready to take. This is not an easy journey by any means! The struggle, the wrestle, the pain, the confusion, the pleading with God are all very real and challenging to work through. But I trust and I can hope (like I wrote about yesterday) that God is bring good and valuable change to my heart and my life. And honestly, I’m okay with whatever I have to deal with if it draws me into God, that is my primary goal, dream and prayer. What ever my life looks like after that, it’s all good with me.
So after that massive introduction on the background of these verses, let’s look at what today’s verse is saying!
God Himself came to serve. That’s huge in and of itself. The God, creator, Lord, ultimate and almighty being, came to serve His rebellious, hateful, broken creatures. Wow! Imagine how you would feel if someone who you loved dearly, betrayed you, viciously hurt you, rejected you and then blamed you for everything that is wrong in the world. Imagine then that you are the only one who can help them, but it is at extreme personal cost to yourself. Would you help them? And even on a very slightly off chance you do help them, wouldn’t you resent it or begrudge it even a bit?
That’s part of why Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us is so special. He who deserved everything from us and received only hatred and rebellion from us (by our sin), He did not come down to be served. He did not come down to claim the service He deserved or even His rightful place of authority. Instead, He came down to serve. The only one to can truely and fully deserved to be waited on hand and foot, chose willingly to give that privilege up and serve us.
What an example of a perfect life. We cannot live a life in service of Christ if we are not willing to get into the dirt beside our fellow humans and serve them. We have to learn the humility to be able to serve others with love and dignity. You see, no one is lessor or greater because he is being served or serving, we all are equal in our value as human beings in God’s sight.
This is a huge lesson for me to learn. It’s not an easy lesson, one I’m sure I’ll stuff up much along the way. But in my pursuit of God and His plans, I must be careful to look for options which include serving. Any path which allows you to avoid serving is a path which should be avoided. Because as it is often said in the Bible, why do we think we deserve better treatment than Jesus? Should we even desire to receive anything different?
♡
Musings by Tee 