Monday, November 26, 2007
Psalm 100:4 Serve the Lord with gladness.
UNSELFISH SERVICE
Picture the following scene: Jesus is heading to Jerusalem for the last time. (Soon He will allow His enemies to arrest Him, try and convict Him, and crucify Him. In this way He will bring to completion His work of loving service to us all.) Two disciples approach Him and ask for a favor: "Jesus, will You give us positions of honor when the time comes for You to establish Your kingdom? Please grant that one of us may sit on Your right hand and the other on Your left." They were thinking what an awesome thing it would be to have people serve and honor them as Jesus' right-hand men when He set up His Messianic reign. Jesus' answer must have floored them: "The rulers of the nations of the world exercise absolute power over others and their officials exercise power over people. This isn't the way it's going to be among you. Whoever wants to become great among you must be a servant of others. Whoever wants to be first among you must be willing to be very last, just as I, the Son of Man, did not come to be served but serve and give My life a ransom for many." Not long afterwards He provided a splendid example of this when He got down on His hands and knees and carried out the job of washing their feet (the night before His death). He thus turned inside-out their way of thinking. He impressed on their hearts that greatness in His kingdom isn't measured on the basis of how many people you've got waiting on you, but on how many you are willing to serve in unselfish love.
In coming devotions, Jesus will provide similar encouragement to us, His disciples of today. He will lend special urgency to us in this matter of serving our Lord faithfully in love by calling our attention to His impending return at the end of the age.
