Love Is Serving

I’ve been going to church since I was kid. My parents took me to church as a baby, so I guess I’ve been going my whole life. I remember hearing a guy say that going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger. I think I went to church because of what church could do for me. I had a “consumer mentality” in my early days of going to church. I later learned that church was a place of healing and hope. Healing and hope come when I learn to serve others without strings attached.

As I was reading about Jesus last Passover with His disciples, He teaches serving by example. Check this out….

¹It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (John 13:1-5 NLT)

I love this scene where Jesus us doing a servant’s job and yet He is the One and Only Son of God. He demonstrates His love by serving.  I think there is a powerful lesson in this.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17 NLT)

I want to grow in my serving awareness. How can I help others? I want to be known as a server. I can serve and lead. I don’t think I can lead without serving. Servant leadership is the only leadership that is genuinely effective. Servant leadership changes the people being led. I am so thankful that I’ve had many examples of servant leadership in my life. Love is serving. Serving is leading.  I am still growing and expanding in my serving. I have plenty of room for improvement. Jesus is the supreme example of loving by serving.

Pressing On!

Dwayne