Improving our Serve

I was reading in Mark 10 this week about the time John and James asked Jesus if they could have positions of power and prestige in His kingdom. It was a selfish request and Jesus was not able to honor their request. But Jesus took this opportunity to teach a valuable lesson. Basically His lesson was that if we want to be great it will be achieved through humble service to others. We should not seek greatness by striving to be top in our field. We should not seek greatness by reaching for some position of power. We should not strive to be great by being boss over a lot of people. Instead Jesus said true greatness is found in being a servant to other people. Jesus stated this principle with a simple illustration, "For even the Son of Man did come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many." Here He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the last and He is saying that we should live our lives in humble service to others. I remember years ago the Seminary where I attended was building a new building at the school. We were able to purchase bricks that would be used around the walkways on which we could inscribe our name, a verse or some other message upon it. The church where I served as pastor purchased a brick in my honor and I put my name and Mark 10:45 underneath it. I had made this verse my life verse and I thought it reflected well my simple beliefs. Yet I wonder if I have lived up to that verse? There have been some times in my life where I have not emulated the words of this verse. There have been times when I have been self-seeking and wanting to be first and not last. I have at times succumbed to the very thing Jesus told us not to do. Of course I find comfort in the fact that I am not alone. There are probably others who have had the same struggles in their lives. Obviously as I reflected on this verse today I asked myself How is my service? One thing for sure it can always improve. For the most part we do not like the idea of serving. We think it is beneath us and that we are too good to serve another person. Yet we have before us the example of Jesus and we should bow our heads and weep that we are not willing to do what our own Lord and Savior did. I know that I must improve my serve. My simple mission statement is to love God, love others and serve the world. I realize everyday that it cannot be a simple slogan that sounds spiritual, it must be something that encapsulates my life. Think about yourself. How are you serving? Do you need to improve your serve? If you are a part of a fellowship of believers, start this week serving in simple ways. If you are not a part of a fellowship believers, I would challenge you to find a church home and begin serving today. Make the coffee, open doors, smile at strangers, shake some hands, greet the people, give a gentle touch, worship with enthusiasm and love the people. Everybody can do these things and I am sure you can find some others things to do as well. And just think about it, as you are doing these things Jesus is saying "you are great!" So why not start improving your serve today.