Serve - I

Look to Serve

MEMORY VERSE

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mathew 20: 26b-28 NLT)

REFLECTION

If we are to be like Jesus then we have to serve the way he served.  And how did He serve? He gave his all. He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant (Phil.2).  He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

I became a follower of Christ during my first year in the university. Early in my discipleship years at the student movement, my leaders’ readiness-to-serve lifestyle made an indelible impression on me. One of them gave me a word of advice that stuck. “Look to serve,” she said. The Lord used that to help develop in me an attitude of looking for opportunities to serve, though I still struggle with a “me-first” default stance.

What are some of the reasons why we don’t serve? Do any of these ‘valid excuses’ sound familiar?:

* too busy- I have too much on my plate already.

* too tired- No more energy.

* too late- I missed the opportunity.

* too hard- Can’t do it. It’s beyond me.

I always need to be reminded to fix my eyes on Jesus, our perfect model of how it is to serve others.  Jesus could opt not to but he chose to. He focused on pleasing the Father and doing His will. If we are to lead like Jesus led then we are to serve as Jesus served.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

• What are your ‘valid excuses’ not to help meet the needs of others? How valid are they?
• The Lord may be bringing to your attention needs of others around you that you could help meet. What are those needs?
• What would it take for you to help meet those needs? Would you be willing to act on it?

ACTION STEPS FOR THE WEEK

Look to serve. Ask God to open your eyes to an opportunity to serve this week.  Pray that you don’t miss it. With humility and joy, serve like Jesus.     

Our guest blogger this week is Ramon Rocha.  He is with CCT and recently moved from the Philippines to Chicago. He is helping coordinate the Ka-Partner Network.