For many of us, the challenge in servant hood and humility lies not in serving, but in being served. I for one find it much easier to render acts of service than to be the recipient of them.
I can really relate to Peter’s response. I’m sure he had a horrified look on his face as Jesus knelt down before Peter and reached for his foot, “Lord are you going to wash my feet? (?????)” I bet Peter could not stand the thought of being served by Jesus in such an (seemingly) undignified manner. Peter reacted strongly as Jesus continued to do so, “No! You will never wash my feet! (!!!!!)” And Jesus explained, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me” (John 13: 6-8).
Yes Peter was learning that part of belonging to Jesus is letting Jesus cleanse him with grace. And Peter was learning that part of belonging to the kingdom of Jesus is accepting the grace of others as well. Jesus was showing Peter that there are times to serve and times to be served. He was teaching Peter how to be a humble recipient of whatever service was being offered him.
Most often it is easier (yet not necessarily better) for us to give than to receive. It is easier to give, because giving makes us the benefactor rather than the beneficiary. Serving defines us as the “have” rather than the “have not.” Serving is good for our egos. Serving earns us kudos. Serving builds a nice resume. Serving is most often an outward act of productivity, and we are (over) doers. Present most of us with a tangible assignment, a need to be met, and we will bust our bums to make it happen.
But being served? Being vulnerable enough to accept the service of others? Being honest enough to admit we have needs too? That is much more difficult. More difficult I suppose, because it requires we lay our pride aside and let others see who we really are when we aren’t “doing” something.
Being served means allowing others to help us (despite our attempt to appear need free). Being served means acknowledging we cannot do it all (despite our culture’s insistence that we can). Being served means admitting we have weaknesses (despite how hard we try to appear completely strong). Being served means accepting support (despite our best efforts to go it alone). Being served means embracing the generosity of others (despite our attempt to be the more generous ones). Being served means ceasing to keep track of whom we owe a favor (despite our obsessive keeping track of whom we owe a favor). Being served means acknowledging that every human being, regardless of race, gender, geography, income, or social status, has equally as much to offer (despite the world telling us otherwise).
I think Jesus calls us to be humble so that we can receive in the same spirit from which we give. For all of us to be necessary, useful, servants in the human community… we must also be equally open, honest, humble recipients of service. Not only does our humble willingness to receive make us more authentic Christ Followers, our humble willingness to receive creates the equality Jesus explains, “I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message” (John 13:16).
Our expectation of and interest in every human beings essential contribution, will free us of our assumptions (and possibly our martyrdom). The world might convey that just because someone doesn’t have physical or fiscal resources to offer, he/she has little or nothing to give but that’s a lie. Every person is made in the image of God, created with something unique and significant to contribute. And as disciples of Jesus we must be willing, not only to serve, but to seek what others have to contribute too, to help them define their strengths, to take an interest in them, encourage them, embrace their unique ways of serving, and to receive their service with humble, grateful hearts…
Just as Peter eventually did, “Then wash my hands and head as well Lord, not just my feet!” (John 13:9)
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What happens in a society when some only give and some only receive? What kind of society does that create? As a community of Christ Followers, how can we go about lovingly and respectfully balancing such an unbalanced phenomenon? How do we go about living in a way that demonstrates, “slaves are not greater than their master, nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message?”
For so many Christians, Easter is pivotal because it represents the forgiveness of sins. Many have accepted Jesus as their Savior because they want to go to heaven when they die. True, that’s an essential part of what Jesus did on this Holy Day. He paved the path from us to God.
But that’s not the only part. That’s not all He did. Jesus did so much more. He paved the path from God to us as well. “The same One who descended is the One who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that He might fill the entire universe with Himself” (Ephesians 4:10). I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angles of God doing up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth” (John 1:51).
Through His life and His death, Jesus created a two way street. Jesus takes us to heaven and brings heaven to us here. There is a constant flow, a perpetual going and coming. The path to heaven is well worn with the footprints of the Holy Spirit; the very Spirit that Jesus embodied during His life on earth.
The Holy Spirit is our ambassador, our representative, our spiritual support system, our confidante, our mediator, our heaven brought to earth. He is our Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby. God sends the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name to represent Him and act on His behalf. The Holy Spirit teaches us all things and brings to our minds everything Jesus has said (John 14:26, Amplified).
The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words, and the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will (Romans 8: 26-27); that’s heaven brought to earth.
The Holy Spirit is Jesus with us. Our bodies are the temple, the very sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who lives within us. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God (1 Corinthians 6:19); that’s heaven brought to earth.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. God reveals these things by His Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets (1 Corinthians 2: 9-10); that’s heaven brought to earth.
It is God who enables us to stand firm in Christ. God has commissioned us and has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised (2 Corinthians. 1:21-22); that’s heaven brought to earth.
We have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within us, so we don’t need anyone to teach us what is true. The Spirit teaches us everything we need to know (1 John 2:27); that’s heaven brought to earth.
We belong to God. We have already won a victory because the Spirit who lives in us is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. (1 John 4:4); that’s heaven brought to earth.
Our endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our hope. This hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love (Romans 5: 4-5); that’s heaven brought to earth.
Jesus did so much more. He paved the way from God to us. Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed us with the same blessing he promised Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:14)…
That’s heaven brought to earth. This Easter, let us celebrate what Jesus brought to earth.
The world’s way of viewing power is all about “filling up.” It’s about being bigger, louder, stronger, better, more. It’s about acquiring more money, more authority, more say-so, more capacity, more control, more leverage, more dominion, more influence. There’s hardly room to describe the insatiable appetite of power as the world defines it.
Shel Silverstein wrote a poem about a boy named Hungry Mungry who started eating his rather large lunch, then moves on to the eat the table, his parents, his house, his neighborhood, his state, his country, the world, the universe, and finally, with nothing left to devour, eats himself. It sounds quite morbid the first time you read it, but through the lens of “power,” Hungry Mungry takes on a new meaning. Maybe Shel was pointing out that we can never feed “Power” enough to satisfy it. It will devour everything around it until it self-destructs.
And isn’t this exactly what God already knows? That this kind of unappeasable power, this power that can never be satisfied, this power that endlessly needs filling up, this power that the world craves, will eventually collapse under its own weight?
Certainly God wants better for us; He wants to us to flourish. And God knows intimately the way to our flourishing is not paved with the kind of power that requires “filling up,” Our flourishing is made possible only by the kind of power that comes from “emptying.”
Jesus constantly demonstrated the kind of power that comes from emptying rather than greedily filling up. He emptied Himself of His Divinity as He took on human skin. He emptied Himself of independence as He did only what He saw the Father doing. He emptied Himself of healing as the woman touched His robe and become well. He emptied Himself of stature as He washed the disciples feet. Even as Jesus prayed desperately in the Garden for God to change the plan, He emptied Himself of His own will, “remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will but what You will” (Mark 14:36). Then He emptied Himself of life as He died on the cross for you and for me.
The only power that lasts flows from God and back into God. God graciously gives us the extravagant opportunity to take part in His power. We have the honor of being in its flow when we are empty enough for it to pass through us.
What does this look like practically? Emptying ourselves of agendas, self-absorption, stubbornness, pride, perfectionism, and demands for control. Emptying ourselves of distractions, life noise, inner criticism, outward condemnation and constant striving. Emptying ourselves of assumptions, judgments, rules, roles, and worldly ways.
Only in our willingness to become empty, will God fill us with power that lasts.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself (Phil. 5-7)
Sometimes what love would do next is…
Be still.
It’s no secret that busyness binds us. The what not’s and where to’s and how do’s keep us racing against the clock to get it all done. And to our dismay, we won’t win a contest against time. The effort we put forth trying though, is odd if you stop to consider it. What’s the prize? Can we name it?
I can’t.
But if I stop long enough to think about the race I’m running, I catch my breath. And after the first breath, the second gets deeper. Then the third. And before I know it, I’m still. And love can catch me… surround me… warm my chest… open my eyes to what’s right in front of me. It’s Time, smiling, asking to be my friend. Time doesn’t want to race me. So why do I want to race time?
Love and Time are companions. They depend upon one another for space and value and contentment.
Sometimes what Love would do next is Be Still. Sometimes if you want to Love… or you want to feel Loved… embrace Time. One Breath. Then another. Until the busyness no longer binds.
Sometimes what Love would do next is…
Be diligent.
At some point, you will mess up. There will come a moment when you know what is the most Loving thing to do next and still choose not to do it. It’s okay. It’s not the end of you or your Purpose. You’ll get another chance the very next moment to try again. The universe is constantly presenting us with opportunities… and four hundred and thirty third chances… and unlimited do-overs. Don’t beat yourself up when you lose your grip on Love. Don’t stay stuck. Don’t stew over it any longer than it takes to figure out how you can do it better next time. Move on. Try again. Keep trying. Keep asking the question. Keep doing Love. Your persistence to the process will produce more peace than you ever thought possible.
Sometimes what Love would do next is be diligent and try, try again (and again and again and again).
Sometimes, what Love would do next is…
Be Quiet.
We live in a very loud world. Our radios and flatscreens and laptops and iPads and smart phones… email and text and tweet us with flashes and beeps and chimes… they sing and ring and scream in a hundred different tones. Most everyone is attempting to get a piece of our attention, and they must do it loudly to compete one with the other… loud voices, loud gestures, loud commercials, loud behaviors. All of it, ramping up decibel after decibel, until our minds are so full, we don’t have room for our own thoughts anymore.
Love does not compete that way. Love does not join in the noise or ramp up the decibels. Love waits quietly. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is low key. Love is a whisper much more often than Love is a shout.
Love can play out quietly in different ways. The most Loving thing to do next might be… choosing to be the one who is quiet for others in a world full of screeching. The most Loving thing to do next might be.. choosing to turn down the useless noise that bombards and threatens our own peace. The most Loving thing to do next might be… keeping our judgements to ourselves so not to condemn or hurt or ridicule another. The most Loving thing to do next might be…. to quietly hug and hold someone who doesn’t need yet one more opinion or piece of advice.
Sometimes (actually much of the time I think), what Love would do next is…
Be Quiet.
Sometimes what Love would do next is…
Be honest.
Love tells the truth. Love doesn’t sugar coat. Love doesn’t lie. Love doesn’t fake it. Love breaks down barriers with authenticity and genuineness and honesty. Trying to be someone or something we are not, isn’t Loving…. not to ourselves or to others. The more you choose to live out a Purpose of Love, the more confidence you’ll find in who you are becoming. Being honest about who we are can be tough. After all, not everyone will reciprocate with Love. But some people will… more people than you might think. There is power and freedom and release in telling the truth.
Sometimes what Love would do next is be honest in a humble voice.
Sometimes what Love would do next is…
Be flexible.
Not by force but by choice. Let’s face it, control is a big fat illusion. We logically know it, yet we often maintain a life rhythm that speaks differently. We often try to control time and space and others. We make ourselves a little or a lot bit crazy by doing so. On the contrary, Love is quite flexible. Love sends control packing. Love moves in and out of life’s nuances like a gentle summer breeze. Next time you feel anxious because things aren’t going the way you planned, take a deep breath and be flexible. Simply chill out and don’t take yourself so seriously. Sometimes what Love would do next is bend. Be flexible.
Often times what Love would do next is…
Be humble.
We live in a society that rewards ego. The bigger, the better it seems. There’s an old Cheers episode where Sam asked Norm, “How’s it goin’ Norm?” Norm replied, “It’s a dog eat dog world, and I’m wearing Milkbone underwear.” Norm’s metaphor is funny and sad and true. We are not humble. We are too often infested with pride and self-importance, stepping on one another to get ahead… get more… get noticed… get ‘what’s mine.’ But there is a different way… the way of Love.
“Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness,” Martin Luther King Jr.challenged us in his last speech. Dr. King talked about the story of the Good Samaritan, in which two “religious” men pass by a wounded man leaving him for dead. Yet a “lesser religious” man stops to tend to the man and care for him in his obvious suffering.
Dr. King explained that the road to Jericho was a long, downward winding, dangerous road, that started 1200 feet above sea level. In Jesus’s day it was called “The Bloody Pass,” because of the ambushing and robbery that took place as people traveled. Dr. King noted that the “religious” men, who passed the wounded man on the road to Jericho, might have been scared the suffering man was simply faking it… that he might be waiting to lure him over and seize them… so the they did not come to the wounded man’s aid. Dr. King said, “And so the first question that they might have each considered was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the “less religious” man (The Good Samaritan) came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
This is the question we must begin to ask ourselves if we expect to truly uncover and live our Purpose of Love. We must begin to think in the smallest instances and most significant events in our lives, not of ourselves, but of the other person. This is the essence of Love.
So often when we think ‘humble,’ we think ‘weak.’ But let’s be honest, it takes a very strong person to put pride aside and consider the other person first. Being humble is not about letting people walk all over you. Being humble is about inner strength. Being humble is about being comfortable enough in your own skin that you don’t have to prove anything. Being humble is about internal resolve. Being humble is about knowing who you are and believing you are valuable without constant external approval. Often times, what Love would do next, is make the strongest choice to ‘develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.’
Be humble.
Often times what Love would do next is…
Be forgiving.
We all mess up. Sometimes we make little messes and sometimes our messes are so big FEMA should be called in. Whether intentional or unintentional, we have all been hurt… and we have all passed along hurt to others. My mentor told me that “holding onto unforgiveness is like personally drinking rat posion & hoping to kill the other person.” Yikes.
However, the more we employ Love, the less and less we will hurt other people. And the more we forgive other people of their messes… the less we will hurt. It’s a graceful circle, this forgiving thing… the more I forgive you, the more you forgive me. The more you forgive me, the more I forgive myself. The more I forgive myself, the more I forgive others. The more I forgive others, the more others forgive you. Giving people grace has no bounds. There is no limit to what grace can change in us and in another person.
Sometimes we hold on to hurt so tightly, it seems to be the only thing keeping us afloat. Yet, if we could muster the guts to let go of the hurt, we’d find there is a luxury cruise liner waiting to catch us… a ride full of abundance and laughter and entertainment and joy.
Forgiving is probably one of the hardest parts of Love. And that’s because it’s one of the best parts… the part that grows us up and makes us stronger than we ever knew we could be. Forgiveness eventually leads to freedom. Sometimes what Love would do next is forgive the person that hurt you… and sometimes that comes right after forgiving yourself.
Be forgiving.
