More Like Jesus

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Love in Action

He was close to the end of his ministry. He had rode in on a donkey colt and been glorified among the people. What lay ahead was his trial and then his death.

In a quiet moment alone with the ones he had grown to love as a human Jesus did something extraordinary. He showed them what it is to really serve.

The feet were culturally the lowliest part of a person. This is still true in the Middle East today. This is why it is so insulting to get a shoe thrown at you.

In Jesus’ time the one who was hired last in a house would wash the feet of the travelers or guests that came in to the house. Jesus did it himself: lovingly and quietly.

Jesus did this so we would know that service is the action behind love.

Service No One Can See

In Colossians 3:23 Paul writes “everything you do- do as until the Lord”. This scripture can be applied to many things, but right now I want to look at service. What are you “doing” in the kingdom?

It could be singing in church, or preaching, or teaching a Sunday school class, but what about the less glamorous jobs? Driving kids to camp on a 14 hour round trip or sitting in a back office filing, or cleaning the church toilets? These things are just as important as singing, as teaching, as preaching.

Yet we often get a bad attitude about doing these kinds of jobs.

Get Over Yourself

Servants serve. They work. Living an all-out, full tilt, anything for Jesus kind of life means you will get your hands dirty. You will have to lay aside your preferences and your ego and sit in the back room for a while.

“Those who love their lives will lose them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever. Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be. My Father will honor whoever serves me.” John 12:25-26

A Servant’s Heart

 Nothing matters unless it is coupled with love and faithfulness. Jesus was fully Lord and fully man. As a man he had grown to love the 12. He had lived with, eaten with, laughed with, and cried with these men. He knew them.

He knew who would betray him and he knew who would serve him until death. He knew what was coming and he chose to lower himself and prove a point.

Love does.

Love does the things no one else wants to do. Love does the hard things. Love does the things no one sees. Love serves the ones who don’t deserve it and the ones who do. Love serves even when it has the time and even when the time is growing short.

Love does. Jesus did. So should we.

Preaching to the Choir

I do not say these things to judge you. I say them because I was challenged by this story. 

In my mind’s eye I saw my Jesus, tired from a long day, disrobe and take on the garments of the lowliest servant. Gather the water, and then walk to the first disciple.

Can you see it?

He washed their feet. Like a slave or a servant would do. 

Then Jesus, moving on from that first disciple, lifting the basin, dumping out the old water, getting new water for the next person did this 11 more times. Over and over he served the ones who were with him. He served and loved even when it was not convenient. Oh that I can be like Jesus!

I want to do as Jesus did. I want to serve others in love.

Over and over.

Whether they deserve it or not, whether they appreciate it or not, I want to serve like Jesus.

Even when I am tired and sore, even when it is hard, even when the day has been long and all I want to do is rest, I want to serve.

I want to be like Jesus.

Lord, let me never forget the moment I saw your heart. That quiet moment, at the end of the day, when you were tired and nearing the end. You washed their feet. You served. You loved. Give me your heart Father. Give me your servant’s heart.

Finding Your Voice

Mr. Special on AGT/NBC

Why We Need People

Last night, as I watched America’s Got Talent on NBC, I was saddened by something most people laughed at. 

Mr. Special. 

This 50-something man, dressed like an Angry Bird ™ gave a poor performance and a lackluster audition. He obviously was not going to make it through to the next round. 

The thing that saddened me was not his talent (or lack of) but his heart. He stood there in front of the audience and judges, with his heart on his sleeve, screaming to be heard. 

“I need to be heard, I need to be heard!” he barked into the microphone over and over. 

We all need to be heard, don’t we? 

That is why we need people. 

The Importance of a Voice

I am a loud person. My friends all know it and expect it. My family is used to it, but the public is unprepared for the volume of my laugh. If you need me to whisper, you better not be asking for a secret because everyone will hear me. 

At church one time, after a particularly funny delivery of the message, a new member of the church came up to me after the service and asked me how much I got paid to be the laugh track for the pastor? 

Ouch. 

I have tried to pull back the volume, but never the joy that bubbles up. Why? 

Because that is my voice: it is who I am. 

Stop Trying to be Heard and Just Serve

We all need people, we all want to be heard, but this life is not about you. It isn’t about me. It is about other people. 

When we lay our lives and our egos aside, real love happens. 

You know that kind of love that doesn’t boast, or crowd others? The love that lifts others up, and is always kind; you know, THAT love? 

I Corinthians 13 says this:

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Real love serves others because that is what Christ showed us by his example. He loved and he served. 

A quiet man from a backwater town, with hardly anything to call his own on this earth, Jesus served and loved others and his voice; his words are still being heard today. 

Be Iron

We are meant to be the light of the world. Drawing people to us not just by our words, but by the warmth and authenticity of our love we serve with purpose: to win the lost. 

In the middle of all that serving is when we emerge as who we were designed to be. Serving is work, but as we get busy helping others, they are helping us. 

The bible says iron sharpens iron. 

 Like taking steel wool to a blade, with careful, deliberate application, it sharpens the blade, removing the rust, and buffing it to a high shine. 

Serving people comes down to one thing: relationship. 

Start where you are, with those people around you that you are closest to. Serve them. Love them. 

Then you will notice, that somehow, without you realizing it, people are noticing, they are seeing the changes that are happening in you and they are listening to what you have to say. 

Call it serving, favors, love, or work, if it is done with a cheerful heart, it can change the world! 

How can you serve someone today?