Wednesday March 1, 2017 Matthew 20:26-28 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as ransom to many.

Nick:

One of those many is me. He made himself the least among the people and ransomed me from eternal hell. This world, including myself, has such a misconception of what it means to be great among people. The belief is that you have to be the best at everything, powerful in character, and has it all together. But in the Kingdom of God its the complete opposite. The greatest among us here on earth is the person who seems to be the least. The one who has taken the position of a servant unto the Lord. For me I can apply this to my family life. Sometimes I am guilty of lording it over my family that I am the leader of the household. I exercise my authority over my family. This is very convicting for me because this isn’t the way Jesus is calling me to be a leader, inside if my house or out. I forget sometimes the example that Jesus gave us on how to live our lives as Christians. I so easily forget the fullness of the gospel and just take out the parts that benefit myself. I forget the selflessness that the gospels brings. The service that it requires of us. My identity is that of a servant if I am to be Christ like. Philippians 2:6 “who, though he was in a form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

 

Julie:

Jesus came to this earth to be an example in our lives. He was an example of many wonderful things. One example was on being a servant. Here in Matthew, Jesus is potraying how humble we are to stay. He, being the Son of Man, served wicked people in a wicked world. Why? To be a light. And what did he say in Matthew 28:19? - "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...". We do this by following Jesus' examples. Being a light of the world does not mean being the spotlight, it means letting Jesus shine through you. This has taken me a long time to grasp, but it is begining to stick. I want to be a servant, but not at the expense of someone taking full advantage of me. But who am I to feel this way? Jesus was blameless and died a criminals death on a cross. Another example. I am to serve to death. This may mean physical death or death to self. All I know is that I am so in love with Jesus and who he was that I want to be just like him and if letting someone take full advatnage of my being a servant to them is part of it, then so be it. I will take it joyfully! I pray that this heart continues to blossom to where I do not even recognize the wickedness in others that could set me up for bitterness. I pray for complete ignorance to other people's motives and just trust that Jesus will protect me.