Basic Principle: Service

“14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.  15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”  -John 13-12-17

As you progress in life (both spiritual and physical), you begin to polarize yourself to the Biblical truths that were manifested by Jesus Christ, or you gravitate to the world (what is the world?  See 1 John 2:16).  If you trend toward Biblical truths you will find yourself becoming less and less like the world, caring less and less about the world, and ceasing to define yourself among their standards.  This type of growth is not always quick and easy, it can often be quite painful, and as difficult as this progression may or may not be; it’s necessary that you draw nigh to Jesus.  Jesus in your life will produce a wonderful, peaceful, content, happy, joyful, stress reduced, complete, wholesome, and holy life, while here.  If you do not desire that, then feel free to do whatever you please.  The above text is a singular Biblical example of a basic principle in the scriptures that contradicts a great majority of the teaching that you will find in this world.  It serves to further illustrate that the Bible will take us away from the world and into a life of righteousness.

Jesus Christ was the Son of God.  He was the greatest person to ever walk this earth.  Moreover, he could command the sea, heal the sick, and raise the dead; if ever there was a man that was worth of praise, honor, and glory, it was Jesus.  The disciples were not worthy, they were not highly esteemed, they were not the “best and the brightest;” the world did not praise them for their talents and Jesus did not call them because of their intelligence.  By the world’s standards, Jesus should be exalted and the disciples abased, but that was not so.   Jesus came to serve, to serve God and to serve his fellowman.  He died for you and me.  He lived the example of how we should exalt one another and not ourselves, and on the eve of his death he stooped down to wash his disciple’s feet, leaving a powerful “example” of a basic principle of servitude and how we ought to live in this world as Christians.  This gesture of humility, of servitude; this is the example that Jesus left, and the lesson he taught with his life.  Now contrast that with the teachings and testimonies of the world today.  Jesus said that “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”  How many commercials do you see on TV broadcasting this message?  How many billboards?  How many magazines, sports writers, news anchors, and college professors?  The clarion call of the world is happy are ye if ye do what’s best for you.  Happy are ye if you indulge yourself; eat, sleep, and rise up to play.  When you take a step back and really look around, do you not see a lot of people who are whole heartily embracing this ME, ME, ME theology?  Of those people, how many are happy?  Then look once again, at a few, a very few group of individuals following after the teachings of a man called Jesus, who left an example to serve and……they are HAPPY!  They are filled with joy, love, peace, and contentment.  These are not those that wish to be masters of their own lives, but those that have accepted that they are a servant to all, and to Jesus first of all.  Imagine a household where everyone serves as Jesus served.  Imagine a church where everyone serves as Jesus served, imagine a country where everyone serves as he served; imagine a world where everyone serves as Jesus served.  Imagine if we followed his example.  Do you think it would be different?  Do you think it would be better?  We would not be fussing over who has or has not “paid their fair share.”  We would not be killing one another because of skin color.  We are all so busy trying to determine who is right and who is wrong, and we forget the words in red.  We forget that Christ called his people to serve, and those who serve are happy.  The ME theology that the world endorses only serves to divide, and those seeking power use it as a weapon to gain power, by getting the most ME’s in their corner they get to be at the top of the hill.  Jesus’s teaching undermines this entire system and cuts to the core of mankind’s need, and that need is simple. 

We need a Savior, we need Jesus.  When you lay aside your own agenda and look to him, then and only then can you be truly happy.  Happiness is in service, not being served; that is a basic principle of the scripture that is opposite the teaching of the world.