The Beauty of serving

What does it mean to be a servant? There are many different ideas that may pop into your head. Some people look at being a servant as a bad thing. They think of maids or butlers and it puts into their minds a lower class citizen. Servanthood is not a glorious job. It is not a glorious calling. It takes humility and meekness.

Lets look at servants from a different point of view. To be a server at a restaurant for instance, is not very glamorous. It takes hard work. However, the server is the one that makes it or breaks it most of the time. If the service is good, in the eyes of the customer, it is the server that gets the praise, if it is bad however, it's always their fault. They are the face of the company, and they have the most difficult job.

Serving someone in a hospital or nursing home takes on a different form. Most people may not look at their nurses as servants. However, they really are. They check on you, give you your medication, check your blood pressure, all to make sure you are comfortable and getting better. They are serving your physical needs in your time of distress.

There are so many fields of serving. On a personal note, I have recently become a caregiver. I am learning it is a very rewarding job. Again, not glamorous. It takes a lot of work. You do things that some would consider below them. However, you do these things for someone who can't do it themselves. You serve to help a person to bath, to clean their glasses, to eat, to take their medicine. You serve them in companionship and in cleaning their house. I am a servant, and it is the first job I can honestly say I love doing. It is a blessing. It doesn't even feel like work. It feels like caring for a friend.

Jesus was the ultimate servant. He was God, wrapped in flesh, and came to us in the form of a servant. He healed the sick, He fed the 5000, he washed the feet of his followers. He had all authority, and yet he washed the feet of his disciples. He helped people. He had compassion. Was being Jesus glamorous? Yes, he had followers, yes he had fame, yet he was also constantly ridiculed by many. He had to deal with so much that we never had too. But the ultimate way he became a servant, was to give everything up, so we could be saved. He gave His life away, he was spit upon, beaten, made fun of, nailed to a cross, and died, all so he could save the world. That is a servant. The greatest power that ever lived, humbled himself, and went to a torturous cross, so he could save you and me.

It is better to give than receive, on the same token,

it is better to serve, than to reign.

I am so thankful for my hero, the one who died for me, the one who humbled himself to a death on a cross, so I could have life more abundantly. I'll take Jesus over superman any day ;)

God bless