Tuesday, March 22, 2011

March 22, 2011 … The Humility of Jesus’ Servanthood

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 6 - 7 -6 Who, [Jesus] being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

My Journal for Today: John MacArthur in his devotional Strength for Today for this date reflects on the essential servanthood of Christ. And as I wrote yesterday, if we are to follow the Apostle Paul’s exhortation [from God’s Spirit] to be like Christ in our attitude (see Phil. 2: 5) and practice a life of Christlikeness (see Rom. 12: 9 – 13 and Gal. 6: 9 – 10), we’ve simply (yes, I know it’s not easy!) have to follow the lead of Christ’s model of servanthood.

Jesus declared (quoted in Luke 22: 27), “I am among you as the One Who serves.” And in point of truth, He fulfilled everything that Isaiah had prophesied about The Messiah as the Suffering Servant in Is. 52: 13 – 14

SCRIPTURE: Is. 52: 13See, my servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at Him — His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness — …

How wonderful – though admittedly challenging – to follow a living Lord Who is the personification of humility, meekness, and servanthood. Jesus was the true “Diakonos” [see the Greek for “minister” or “servant” in Matt. 20: 26 and 23: 11-12] … our Servant Leader; because as Jesus said in John 12: 26, “Whoever serves Me must follow me; and where I am, My servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

And I don’t know about you, whomever might read this; but I want to be honored by my Heavenly Father; and it’s clear that the only way that will happen is my first taking the attitude of a “diakonos” just as His Son was, my Savior and Lord. And when we take on that role, in both attitude and action, God, the Holy Spirit pours His grace into our servanthood; and we light up like beacons of humility (i.e., Christlikeness) in the darkness of sin and pride [i.e., which is this, world].

So, may we follow Him so that we can lead others to the Light.

My Prayer Today: Help me to be more like You today, Lord … then even more tomorrow, … lighting the way for others to find You or move closer to You. Amen

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