I know it has been a while since I approached my blog. But in retirement I'm going to start turning some of my pondering back into posts...so here's what I've been pondering lately. Are you ready? Strap in cause here we go...
It seems that almost from the moment we are born, people are seeking to set us up to succeed. And though we know we are born inherently selfish, (just try unplugging a pacifier from a baby—no one had to teach them THAT response) we are also naturally reinforced in that selfishness as we grow to believe that life is all about us. (Don’t get the cereal you want at a grocery store at age 4—throw a tantrum and you just might get it. Don’t like being told no? Scream and fuss until they finally give in.) And in those early years, the reason often given to include or exclude something in my behavior is so that “other people will like you.”
Then the school system teaches me that there are levels of competence in many different areas and if I can perhaps best others in just one of those areas, I am more worthy than the others. Doesn’t matter if it’s being better at sports or spelling, math or music, social studies or science, if I can just excel at something, then I have found my niche that gives me a platform to proclaim my identity from. And for the most part that is healthy. It is a necessary part of growing into the identity that God gave you. Yet it is also problematic. Its foundation is “your worth is based on performance.” Or you worth is based on a socialization strata. Status based worth.
But what if God is trying to say…no…your worth and your identity is based on your people, that is who you belong to …and YOU are MINE! You are my child and you are deeply loved just because you belong to me!
In other words, you and I already have royal status at birth. What if God desired us to use our royal status and privilege for the sake of, not besting our adversaries, but of lifting them up?
What? That goes against everything within me. If I did that then they would be higher than me…and I would be…um…lower. That doesn’t seem right. Then I wouldn’t be getting ahead. I would be falling behind. Then I wouldn’t be winning. I would be losing. I wouldn’t be dominating or crushing the game or…do you see what begins to happen in the human heart when we just pause to challenge our assumptions? It doesn’t make sense to our natural way of thinking.
No wonder the disciples were confused when Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of all.” You remember the story don’t you? It’s found in Mark 9. It’s just a few verses, but it almost always leaves me scratching my head as it goes agains the flow of human thought. Check it out.
Mark 9:33 After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” 34 But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” *
I mean…we read the words, we hear what He is saying, but there is a natural resistance to that message. We recoil at taking last place. We’re disgusted by being a servant of everyone. Servants have no status. They have no say in how things go. They get pushed to the background of society and become invisible.
But Jesus would have us think otherwise. Notice, at the Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples, knowing His true identity was what actually allowed Him to choose to serve. Look at John chapter 13 and notice what Jesus knew and then because of what He knew, consider the action He chose.
John 13: 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
Even after He did that and they were all ashamed that He was playing the servant, as the meal progressed and He predicted someone would betray Him, notice what happened. They turned it back into a discussion of not only who would do such a thing, but proclaiming their own innocence in this matter and then…
Luke 22:24 Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them.
What? Here we go again. Wow…it is SO engrained in our human nature that we can’t help ourselves. We automatically start arguing about who is the greatest. So Jesus gets real with them. Look a the next verses in Luke 22.
Luke 22:25 Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ 26 But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. 27 Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.
So how do I answer that call to be a servant? Paul spells it out really well in Romans 12…just after his passage on “offering yourselves as a living sacrifice to God and being transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We often stop reading after verse 2…but check out verse 3, this from the New International Version (NIV) of scripture.
Rom. 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
The New Living Translation (NLT) puts that same verse this way: Rom. 12:3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.b
I don’t know what that would look like for you in your everyday life, but I do know what God has been challenging me with as I have sat with this passage recently. Thoughts like: “You don’t have to be first in traffic…lift your foot a little and smile at people as they pass you.” “That elderly lady who’s debit card has been rejected three times just in front of you—put your card in and cover her groceries.” “That neighbor who’s lawn resembles the Amazon jungle and he doesn’t seem to care…YOU mow it instead of muttering about him under your breath every time you drive past—and weed-eat it too!” “Those dishes in the sink that bug you…put them in the dishwasher.”
And I’m finding that doing those things does not diminish who I am as a person. In fact, knowing who I am; rather, knowing WHOSE I am allows me to choose to go lower. And I’m discovering that there is plenty of room at the bottom. Yes, it is downward mobility, but scripture promises a great reversal when God's timing is right.
1 Peter 5: 5, 6 “God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”a
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.
*All scripture in this piece taken from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.
