Selfishness vs. Selflessness

(picture courtesy of google images)

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”- Mark 10:45

Service is an essential part of following Jesus. He demonstrated it for His followers and to His followers. He washed their feet when He knew in a few hours He would die; He fed 5000+ people when they could have gone and fed themselves; He made sure to walk into the lives of those in need and demonstrated a level of service that no one had seen before and much more.

His agenda was His Father’s agenda and the glory was for His Father, not His own. He could have made statues for himself. He could have made everyone bow before Him. Yet, He chose to remain in humility and serve in a way that drew attention to someone other than Himself and fled when people were trying to make Him king.

This is what He taught His disciples and what He teaches us today. When He truly does a work in us, our service is no longer about our glory. When we are truly serving with Christ in mind, then our fame is nowhere in sight.

Yes, the world may praise us. Yes, people may tell us how great we are. However, we do not aim to bring attention to our work. We do not do work with the intent of making our name famous.

God’s work was demonstrated selflessly. His people should match up to His standards. The Pharisees and other religious leaders did their work in order to get glory. They made their work known to people in order to be called righteous. This is not the way of Christ.

A sign of Christ’s work in us is a selfless attitude. A sign of Christ’s work is a refocus of pride. Our pride is no longer found in our work or in the praise of man, but the knowledge of doing our Creator’s work and answering His call.

Service is something we all can do. It is only through Christ that we can do it without expecting anything in return. It is only through Christ that our selfishness can turn to selflessness and move into His agenda and not our own.

May we serve in such a way that people see we are not doing it to be praised, but to give praise to the only One who deserves it.

Question: What are some ways God has called you to serve? Do you find yourself seeking praise or giving praise?