To Serve with Love

~~~ 1 Peter 1:18-25 ~~~ Psalm 14 ~~~ Mark 10: 32-45 ~~~

"...the word of the Lord remains forever."

"...love one another intensely from a pure heart."

Through the death and Resurrection of Jesus,

 we have come to place our faith and hope in God.

The tenth chapter of Mark continues to reveal to us just how naive and human the apostles were. They mirror who we are in many ways.

You tend to have unreasonable expectations when you do not have all of the facts or you simply do not understand.

James and John were so eager to be close to the Lord. They mistakenly believed that they were capable of more than they could have imagined.

Jesus wisely response to them, "You do not know what you are asking."

Jesus was reflecting at a much deeper level than James and John could understand.

They did not grasp that Jesus was acting on behalf of the Father.

Jesus offers them an analogy they could understand; that of the authority of a ruler who is controlling over all.

Instead Jesus flips this pyramid of power upside down.

"For the Son of Man did not come to be served

but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many."

Jesus came to serve. He made this very clear at the Last Supper when he knelt at the feet of each of his apostles and washed their feet.

Can you imagine Jesus kneeling at your feet today?

It is difficult to even let your imagination place you in such a scene.

We are surrounded with those who have a servant's heart every day. They are in our families, our churches, our hospitals, our homeless shelters, our crisis call centers, our military, our schools, in our restaurants. And I am sure you could continue the list with many more examples. In order to serve you need to put the needs of others above your own needs.

While we may never be able to simulate the great service of our Lord we can serve with a pure heart. We can serve out of love and not expect recognition for our service.

We are all called to serve in one way or another.

Today I invite you to take a look at how you serve.

I invite you to examine how your service is aligned

with the call to serve from Jesus.

Only you can answer the question of 'why' you serve.

"...the word of the Lord remains forever."

Service from the heart is love.