WEEK 18 – DAY 5

May 7, 2021

SUPERIOR SERVANTS

But this is not your calling. You will lead by a different model. The greatest one among you will live as one called to serve others without honor. The greatest honor and authority is reserved for the one who has a servant heart. Luke 22:26 (TPT)

Everything in our world tells us we must be first: valedictorian, most valuable player, chief executive officer, etc. We want to be “top dog,” the one in charge, the boss. There is nothing wrong with having positive goals. However, sometimes we end up with too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Or we have someone who scrambled to the top on the backs of coworkers. And when a person gains that top position, there is a real temptation to “lord it over” those on the lower rungs of the ladder. Yet all these are praised as over-achievers, hard workers, super sharp. Jesus turned this model on its head. When the disciples argued about who was the chief person in Jesus’s inner circle, He told them they were not to be like this world’s idea of leadership. He informed them that the true leaders in His family were to be the ones who willingly served their brothers and sisters. It is a love that sacrifices our wants to meet the needs of others. We are to aspire to be superior—the most excellent at serving others. You may still be the CEO of a company but seek ways to make the lives of your employees and your customers better and be a servant in your church and community. We often think of church leadership as the people on the platform, but the church is really built on the people visiting the sick, the needy, and those who desperately need Jesus. The beautiful thing about Jesus’s design is that a person can be both the one singing the soaring solo and working behind the scenes in other ways. We may never see the ways people serve, but Father sees and knows whether we operate from the place of a servant’s heart or only in our own interests. May we be superior servants.

Father, please keep us humble. Make us like Jesus who “took on Him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7b). May we seek to lead by the example of “Treat men exactly as you would like them to treat you” (Luke 6:31 Phillips).