My
Utmost For His Highest
The Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve… —Matthew 20:28
“Jesus also said, “Yet I am
among you as the One who serves” (Luke 22:27). Paul’s idea of service was the
same as our Lord’s— “…ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2
Corinthians 4:5). We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry
is called to be different and above other people. But according to Jesus
Christ, he is called to be a “doormat” for others— called to be their spiritual
leader, but never their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased…”
(Philippians 4:12). Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last
drop for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As
long as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of
service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation
behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our
devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and
broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude
from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of
ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.” CHAMBERS
There are a couple of points
to be made here. First … God has chosen
to use us for His purpose. Our focus
must be on service not self. As I typed
that I thought about the core values of the Air Force. Those things that are to be primary to the
character of ever airman and civilian who serves. There are three – Integrity first, service
before self and excellence in all we do.
I must say, I don’t always see those being played out in the lives of
the people around me .. just as I don’t see those same Biblical values being
played out in the lives of many Christians around me … I don’t pretend to
understand fully why God has chosen to use us to show His glory to others,
except when Jesus ascended there needed to be a replacement for Jesus .. that
is us .. but we needed to be spiritually empowered, so God sent the
Spirit. The things we do for the Lord cannot
not done by the power of our flesh or there is no glory for God. There is no spiritual power behind our
actions or our words.
The second point is that why
we do what we do should not be motivated primarily for our love for others, but
our love for God. Through my own
experience, I can promise you that you will serve many ungrateful people. Ingratitude on the part of others is a fiery
arrow from Satan. Without the shield of faith, ingratitude can steal your joy
and motivation, causing you to consider “what you have done” and lose sight of
why you have done it. (Ephesians 6) Jesus brought salvation to a nation and they crucified
Him. Why should they treat you any
different. (John 15:20-21) "Remember what
I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me,
they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours
also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the
one who sent me.” The pastor of the largest church in South Korea (830,000
members), Pastor Cho, told the missionaries sent from that church, “When people
ask you why you are serving the way you are, tell them that Jesus came serving
the Father to show the love of the Father to the world, and you are doing the
same.” In other words, point them to the
Lord and don’t take credit for your service.
Interestingly, this same pastor was convicted of embezzlement from the
church. My point of adding that factoid,
success in the kingdom does not ensure safety from sin. (Genesis
4:7) “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not
do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but
you must rule over it.” ELGIN
Charley Elgin
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