“and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.”
(Mark 10:44)
‘Slave’ is word charged with emotion. Slavery evokes imagery in our minds of abuse, inequality, and endless toil. And yet, slave is the word that Jesus used as He spoke to His disciples about the role we must take if we wish to rise amongst the ranks of His kingdom.
If we wish to please Jesus, we must be prepared to be treated unfairly, receive less than what we believe is due us, and to labor tirelessly for those who rarely show appropriate gratitude. Kingdom work requires us to volunteer for the dirty work that others need done, but nobody wants to do.
It is the menial, unglamorous tasks that are most needed in this world to be done by Christ’s people. What would the world be like if we all opened the doors for others, volunteered for the least desirable tasks at work and home, and prepared ourselves to say the things to others that everyone else was uncomfortable saying (i.e. evangelism!)?
When Christians view ourselves as slave, we take the role nobody wants and fill the vacuum with Christ.
Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites