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.
|
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