A Lifestyle of Serving - Matthew 20 (Part 1)
Today I spent time reading in Matthew 20 during my Time Alone With God (TAWG). Two sections of scripture stood out to me in this chapter. The first section of scripture that spoke to me is when Jesus says that He came to serve, not be served. The second section of scripture that stood out to me was the persistence of two blind men to get their healing from Jesus. In today’s blog I will be focusing on the first section of scripture. In next week’s blog I’ll focus on the second section of scripture.
Let’s start by taking a look at what Jesus says in Matthew 20:26-28: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus not only talked the talk, but he walked the walk. His life on Earth was such an amazing example of what it looked like to be a servant and put others before Himself. As followers of Christ, we are called to walk in His ways and be servants just like He was when He was walking the Earth.
So, how can we apply this section of scripture to our lives? We can start today by praying a prayer to ask God to show us how we can better serve others. We live in such a busy world today where many of our schedules tend to be jam packed and we can have this excuse that we don’t have time to help others… ‘I need to look out for number one’. So, another prayer could be for God to help us to take a deep breath and get out of our own way so that we can be used for the bigger picture, which is sharing Christ’s love with others and serving others. Our true purpose and fulfillment comes when we truly begin to put the Lord’s agenda first. We are called to put Jesus first, others second, and ourselves third. We are called to “Go and make disciples of all nations”, but to do that we need to be willing vessels that the Lord can use.
My challenge for all of us… pray a prayer right now similar to what I typed out above. Ask God to help you get out of your own busy way and to use you as a vessel to serve Him and His Kingdom. Ask Him to send people your way that you can serve. Ask your church if they could use you in any way to serve. When you begin to take the posture of Christ Jesus and serve, your life will change for the good in ways that you’ve never imagined. The Lord will ultimately see your obedience and bring blessing and favor into the most crucial areas of your life. But, this thing of being a servant isn’t a one and done kind of thing, it needs to become a lifestyle. Jesus served from childhood all the way to His last act of servanthood, which was death on a cross for all of us who believe. Live a lifestyle of servanthood and just watch as the Lord overwhelms you with love, joy, and His amazing goodness.
I hope that today’s blog was encouraging to you, that you will accept my challenge, and that God will move in your life in mighty ways as a result of your obedience and servanthood. Keep me in the loop too, as I’d love to hear how God is moving in your life as you serve Him and others. Finally, be sure to check back in on my blog NEXT Wednesday (6/26) as I will be posting “Part 2” of my Matthew 20 blog.
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