Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of the group, Casting Crowns, singing the uplifting Christian classic… Who Am I?, reminding us that the greatest of all came to serve us with His love, mercy, and grace. … Oh, who am I to deserve His servant’s love?
Highlight Passage Luke 22: 27 [NKJV] …
27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.
… Whom would you rather serve?
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Highlight Context - Luke 22: 24-30 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK … … Jesus on servant leadership.
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Reference Passage #1 - Matthew 20: 26-28 [NKJV] …
26 “… Let it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant [i.e., “slave]. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave — 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
… Again Jesus on serving
Reference Passage #2 - Mark 10: 35-45 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… James and John, the “sons of thunder,” needed a lesson in servanthood
Reference Passage #1 - John 13: 1-17 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus washes some feet to show what servant leadership is all about.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Keila Ochoa, pounded home a leadership principle I learned after several years of trying to supervise others in a hospital where I worked. As a young, immature, Clinic Director, I tried to show that I was “the boss,” … that I was “in control;” … and I approached those over whom I supervised with a “here’s what we’re going to do” attitude.
That was before Christ became the Lord of my life.
But after Christ came into my life, I learned His way of leading … that of becoming a “diakonos,” which is Greek for “servant leader.” And Jesus, Himself, was the model of being a “diakonos,” especially when He showed His disciples that serving others was at the heart of leadership.
Take in Christ’s teaching on SERVANT LEADERSHIP, which can be found in several different scenarios in all four of the Gospels. And when you take in those scenarios above, in the highlight and reference passages above, you’ll see that one leads by first serving.
So, in my work as a hospital clinic director, rather than approaching my colleagues with that “here’s what we’re going to do” attitude, I learned a wondrous phrase to approach my staff when I needed to get a task completed; and that phrase is … “I need your help.” And the difference in the attitude of those who were tasked to follow me was AMAZING!
So let me ask you - fellow Christians reading here. Whom would you rather follow? A leader who ordered you to do something or one who asked for your help in competing a task? … Duh! … No brainer, right?
Well, Jesus was the model of this “diakonos” type of leadership, … for example when He washed the feet of His Disciples in the Upper Room (see the John 13 passage linked above). And He taught this to those Disciples (see the other passages above) over and over again. And when they finally got it, … after the resurrection, … they all became servant leaders to others as they witnessed God’s love in their post-resurrection mission work on earth.
And if you have any responsibility to lead others, as I do, I hope we all GET IT as well!!
My Prayer Today: Oh Lord, … Help me to lead others with a servant’s heart. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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