The Blog

If you take a good look around in your workplace, your school, sometimes even in your home; it doesn’t take long to see that we live in a self-centered society. At a very young age, school and family pressure taught me to value a good grade over an attitude of excellence. Coaches taught me to value winning over humility. My peers taught me to value material possessions (which would surely make me cool) over thankfulness for what I had. What do all these things have in common? They are all self-serving. They served me, by giving me the impression that I was good or I fit in. The culture that surrounds us teaches us that we need to serve ourselves, that it is vital to our survival in life. If we are not careful, we can merely become a reflection of our society rather that reflecting the image of God, who did not serve Himself, but rather came to serve us.

Recently in morning devotions we have been studying the idea of servanthood. What does it mean to be servant-centered rather than self-centered? I think God put it best in Philippians 2:1-8 when He said, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

You see, when Jesus entered the world He was not self-centered, He was servant-centered. He came in humility to serve us, so that we could be in relationship with Him. He did this by giving His life, not just by dying, but before his death too. During Jesus life He fed people, He healed people, He encouraged people, He cared for the poor and widows, He offended the proud so that they might see their error and trust Him someday, individual people were important to Him, He loved people regardless of social standing, and ultimately He took the punishment for our sins so that we could have an eternal relationship with God. The bible is rich with examples of how Jesus serves you and I.

I know how easy it is to get caught up in day to day living and to forget why we are really here. I encourage you to look at your life and evaluate whether you are living self-centered or servant-centered.