The Decency of Serving One Another
When decency is prevalent, serving others is an active exercise. Every day is an opportunity to provide service to those who we can impact. Service can take many different forms from those simple acts that may appear meaningless at that moment to those acts that require a more intentional focus. What can never be underestimated is the impact that serving one another has upon those we serve. True service is done from the heart with no expectation that something will be done in return. We serve because we know that we were created to serve.
Why Serve?
Jesus Christ embodies the reason we are to serve. He came to serve those who he led in a way that displayed His true humility. The seminal moment of His example of service was displayed when He bowed down to wash His disciples’ feet. In the time of Christ, this was the lowest rung that a servant could be upon, to wash the feet of another. Not only did this act require one to bow before another, it was the act of washing the feet of another who had been walking upon road that would have been covered with dirt, dust and animal excrement.
What would be the motivation for someone who had the position and authority that had been given to Him? His purpose and reason were not to lord this position that He had over others, but His motivation was to show by example to His followers how they were to serve. He showed that there was no task of service that was beneath Him and that no task of service should be beneath those who claim His name. We serve others as that is the calling that has been placed upon us to impact this world through the revelation of the authority that Christ has upon the life of those who have been called.
Who to Serve?
Each of us is gifted in our own ways to serve. We each have a specific spiritual DNA that aligns us with those we are called to serve. The best way to understand exactly who we are called to serve is to just do it. Look for those opportunities in which you can serve someone. Those opportunities always exist. Keeping an open eye and ear and taking the focus off ourselves is the clearest way to be directed towards them. The greatest acts of service occur when we lower ourselves in a way that gives honor to another and lifts them to a position that they did not have prior to our reaching out to serve them.
The examples that Christ gave to His disciples’ and followers applied this principle. He served the Samaritan woman at the well. This would have been a woman who was rejected by society and viewed as the lowest of low yet Christ when the opportunity presented itself served this woman in a way that elevated her esteem and elevated her within the community.
Just Serve
To live the example of service we just need to respond to the DNA to serve that has been placed into our life. Allow it to speak and lead you to that which brings you joy of serving others.
