The Proper Way to Serve

Jesus’s greatest example to His followers is found in His emptying Himself to become a servant to others.

Being a servant does not mean being someone who takes every punch like a doormat, but it is about seeking the best for others. Jesus didn’t let the Pharisees walk all over Him, and neither should we let people walk all over us. But serving others is at the heart of the Christian message, giving hope to the despairing and disenfranchised.

 A husband must lead his wife as Christ led the church, which included loving her enough to die for her. But the other extreme, where you’re not fulfilling your duty as a man and making yourself into someone who idolizes and pays them money to find an “in” with them, isn’t the way to be either, chief (looking at streamer subcultures and the chronically online, a subject of which I wrote a social commentary novel on).

Serve others, but don’t lose sight of being the man God made you to be. The only person to put on any sort of pedestal is Jesus Christ, though I will say He’d rather you not worship Him in a manner befitting idolatry.

Jesus is God in human flesh but emptied Himself into the form of someone who was like us in every way.

“But emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7 [ESV]).

He had every right to rule this universe yet still humbled Himself enough to die in one of the worst ways on the cross.

That is the pattern. Death of the self so that God’s glory might shine through.

Serve others with the right heart attitude, serve your partner well, and make the name of God great as you walk into the calling He has for you.

Don’t forget the example given to us, no matter what season of life you are going through at the time.

I think the Air Force says it well in its core values for every airman. Service before self.

The mission Christ gave to us as those who serve others comes before our own wants and desires.

It’s not that having desires is in and of itself a negative thing; it’s that seeking to do good for others makes the world shine with the light of God’s intentions.

Humble yourself enough to know God’s character. He is glorious but came into this universe as a mere man of small beginnings.

Now He is set over all things as the ultimate Potentate, because He first went through the humility necessary to make a powerful leader.

Humility to serve, not exaltation to be served. We can’t have things backwards.

Shalom.