Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Day 37: A Life Poured Out


Jesus came not to be served, but to serve.

He was not here on His own accord, but only to fulfill the will of His Father.

He was not selfish in anything He did, but He gave all of Himself, in love, to the world.

The lost, the last, the least. To those deemed "unworthy" by society. The lame, the beggar, the widow. This is who Jesus walked alongside and loved with everything that He had.

He gave all of Himself in service to others, and ultimately in service to the Father.

Jesus was not inwardly focused. He was not self consumed or self absorbed. He was not preoccupied with His own life, His own desires, or His own plans. He poured out His life in service to His friends, to each person He encountered, and to His Father in Heaven.

From His entrance into the world as a baby, to His entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus demonstrated His own humility. He was a King, yet He did not seek an earthly throne. He had the worship of angels, yet still He chose to live His life in service to others.

Even on the day before His death, He chose to wash the feet of the disciples that He had chosen. They recognized Him as their leader, as their teacher, as their Messiah, yet He humbled Himself to the place of a servant and washed their feet, rather than having it be the other way around like Peter thought it should be.

Jesus was the only One worthy of having His feet washed, yet He washed others'. The only One who deserved to be served took it upon Himself to empty Himself in service to others. Every moment of His life on earth was spent serving other people.

In Philippians, Paul describes Jesus like this:
Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8)

Jesus lived a life poured out. He lived a life dedicated to serving others. He lived a life of obedience to the Father. Which ultimately resulted in Him being given the highest place in Heaven.

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
-Philippians 2:9-11

In His Service,
Elisha