“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life — a ransom for many.” Mark 10: 43-45
I desire to be great. And if I am being honest, I am certainly not trying to achieve this by having a pure servant heart. I am selfish, prideful, and very easily distracted by what the world defines as “great”. In fact, I have struggled with a Super Suzie complex for a long time — I want others to notice my greatness… because if they do, they may like me. Human approval. Definitely not what God desires from me. And definitely not the motivation God desires for service.
Jesus came to give His life away. His sole purpose for living was to die… not because He needed His blood shed for Himself. He was shedding His blood to save me… to save all of humanity. There is nothing selfish about that. It was complete humility. He was a King. He deserved worship and adoration. He was worthy of attention, glory, and greatness. BUT, Jesus didn’t demand it. He didn’t ask for it. He didn’t do the things on earth that He did so that others would like Him. Jesus came to serve and to give His very life to bring glory to God the Father. Wow… I really need a complete renovation of the heart!
It is just so easy for me to get sucked into the value system of this world:
- Believing that I NEED certain things to be happy
- Believing that my kids NEED to be involved in a million extracurricular activities because everyone else is
- Believing that SUCCESS is defined by the job, house, and car that I own
- Believing that I have a RIGHT to be happy and that struggles in life are unfair
Writing that list down kind of makes me nauseous. Satan is so quick to tempt me to believe those lies. And the rotten thing is, so often I do.
Dear Jesus,
Please help me to become like You. I want to see people through Your eyes — to be able to attend to the needs of others without any selfish motivation. You have blessed me with so much in this life. May I be quick to give away and share with others, expecting NOTHING in return. And God, I acknowledge that my worth comes from YOU alone. I pray that the approval from others would not be the driving force behind my actions. I want to have purity of heart — to give YOU the praise, glory, and adoration that You deserve. After all, Lord, it is all about You. You are worthy and good! I love You, Jesus!
Amen
Suzie (suzielawyer)
Sixty-six books in a year 