Service Sets the Example.

Gandhi once said, “The best way to ‘find yourself’ is to ‘lose yourself’ in the service of others.”  Jesus paints an even stronger picture.  Mark 8:34— “Then He called the crowd to Him along with His Disciples and said, ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself....”  ‘Denial of self’ is a completely different animal than ‘self-denial.’  This is not a minuscule matter of one fewer cupcake after dinner so your daughter will have some left for the kids in her class tomorrow ...giving up ice-cream for Lent, or alcohol for Easter.  And the next phrase shows it.  “And take up his cross and follow Me.”  The “cross” is not an instrument of inconvenience, the cross is an instrument of death!  ‘Take up your cross’ is not a way of saying, “Gut it out in your marriage.  Grit through your physical pains and sufferings.  Endure this present economic hardship.”  That is ridiculous.  And not only this, it’s a slap in the face of the Son of God, who suffered and died on Calvary’s cross so you and I could be free from sin, Satan, darkness and death forever!

In John 12:24 Jesus told a group of Greeks who were seeking an audience with Him, “The man who loves his life [‘Who clings to it and all it offers him with everything he has... instead of surrendering it willingly to the Lord of All Life’] will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for Life Eternal.  Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, My Servant also will be.  My Father will honor the one who serves Me” {vv. 25-26}.

This is crucial to the Life of the Kingdom: Humility is essential to effective service in the Kingdom of Grace.  It’s the truest expression of submission and surrender to an authority above your own, to someone greater than self.  Humility is a stance of the heart.  You’ve either chosen it as one of the Paths of Life, or you’re living out of arrogance and ego: constantly on the defensive, always looking for the negative {all you ‘pessimists’ out there!}, ever-observant of the faults, flaws and failures of others {and quick to point them out while simultaneously ignoring your own}, quick to speak, quick to condemn, slow to hear and slow to forgive {sound familiar?}, easily offended by the slightest change in your situation, ever-ready to judge those ‘wicked sinners’ who are so much more broken than you.  Well, maybe they are... and maybe they aren’t.  Maybe they’re just more honest about how deeply their hearts ache for this world to be made right, for their King and His Kingdom to finally come!

Live long enough and you’ll come to realize every person has something to offer; every single human being has gifts and abilities.  But you, my friends, as Children of the Most High, have supernatural gifts to offer a world which desperately needs them!  Jesus said to His Apprentices, “The greatest among you will be your servant” {Matt. 23:11}.  Now listen close.  Service sets the example for others.  Self-pity, on the other hand— the bitter belief that you’re not being served enough, ‘no one is serving me!’— is a heart-killer!  Anytime, all the time.  In the words of Navy SEAL Dr. Eric Greitens, “When people are able to look beyond themselves and be of service to others, they actually become stronger....  Winners step outside themselves and remember there are people to their left and to their right counting on them to be strong.”  Let me reframe this.  “Overcomers {Rev. 1-3} step outside themselves, their own pain and self-pity, their self-hatred and self-absorption, and remember there are fellow-warriors to their left and to their right counting on them to trust in the essential goodness of God, and to ‘be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power’” {Eph. 6:10}.  Amen.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296 | hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – where the Word and the Spirit are one.