“….But whoever would be great among you must be your servant”
I do hope the initial response to the title and verse above is not “here we go again…. same old same old…” The reason I say this is because I know how this kind of Christian call can become dull and it easily fall on deaf ears!
But people, the call for us to be a “slave” (servant) is one that has eternal consequences. Yes… all true believers will be glorified and spend eternity with the Saviour but…. there will be a day of reckoning when all our time as a believer will be examined by Him (1Cor. 3:13). And the rewards metered out on that occasion will be determined by the Lord sees true greatness in those who serve… those who like the Saviour, put others ahead of Himself! I like how Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones once put this challenge to his congregation.
The one who came from heaven to earth for us and died on that cruel cross of shame on Calvary’s hill; who spared not Himself; who endured the contradiction of sinners. He who bore that agony in the garden and on the cross, He will look at us – and what He will look for is this: how we spent our time in this world after we realized what He had done for us. It is the terror of love you see, not the fear of torment. You will look into that beloved face and into those eyes and you will realize, as you have never done before, what He did for you. Then you will realize with shame what you did not do for Him. Oh, says Paul, buy up the opportunity, do not waste a second. Keep that in the forefront of your mind.