Jesus said to his disciples,"For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves" (Luke 22:27)
When banquets are held for special people - people who have done work worthy of honor - you'll usually find them seated in the front at the reserved table, waiting to be served. Guests may even find it appropriate to approach the table and greet the honoree. We make sure the person it served first, gets the first chance to speak and maybe even has others speak on his behalf. When it comes to honoring people, we're pretty good at it.
For just a moment this morning, reflect on the fact that at the dinner table of life, it is Jesus who is serving us. Oh, and what a main course He's prepared. Imagine Jesus, after all He has done, after all you've done to Him, serving you the best meal of your life and then just to take things a little further begins to wash your feet. Is your response like Peter, who felt entirely unworthy to let Jesus do this? I'm not sayiing thats the right or wrong response but I imagine my response would be similar. So as Christ followers, or better yet Christ imitators, should it be us who serves others unconditionally? who considers others as better than ourselves? (Philippians 2:3....again). The best servers are the ones who can serve you suffieciently, recognize what you need and cater to that need quickly, be polite, be genuine, pay attention, and do all of this without hardly being noticed. Are we willing to take no credit, humble ourselves & serve other people (especially non-believers)?
We must lose the attitude that we're here to always receive something. We go to church to receive a blessing but how often do we go to be a blessing? Some have been convinced to focus their energy on the fact that "this is their season" or "this is their breakthrough" and I don't know, maybe it is, but see where the focus is?
The world is at the dinner table and we've been delivered the Main Course, now we just have to serve it to them.
Reminded me of a song I heard called "I Don't Mind Waiting". It speaks about "waiting on the Lord". Waiting on the Lord....now that's a concept that we don't contemplate too often, after all in this fast-paced society that we live in we really don't want to wait on anything..especially God. We have instant coffee, instant oatmeal, grits, potatoes, etc.. the list goes on. We have drive-up food and banking. All the conveniences at our finger tips. Just "Add Water, Heat (nuke-it) and Serve". That's what we expect from God as well. Instant answers, instant gratification. We will wait on God ...for five minutes then give someone else a call. We're waiting on the pastor, or mom and dad to change our situation, or we're waiting on the church, or our place of employment, or our spouses, our children or our doctors. Just fix it - git'er done. Waiting. When you picture someone waiting what do you see? I see a man standing with his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently, occasionally looking at his watch with a look of frustration. Is this what waiting on the Lord is all about? You know the old saying "it's hard to get good service these days". I believe that we sometimes get our roles reversed. We see God as a benevolent being, ready to meet our every need. A bellhop, a holy one but a bellhop none the less. I remember being blessed to go on a cruise with my wife. While on this cruise we had a person assigned to our cabin to take care of our needs, we also had a trio of ship personnel to take care of us at dinner each night. Making sure that we were happy with everything. After a few nights of this kind of attention I just had to mention to a young lady that was assigned to us how impressed I was with the service on the ship and how much I appreciated her taking care of us. She made a statement that I will never forget. She said with a big smile, "It's my pleasure to serve you sir." And I knew that she really meant it. She was from another country and she had the heart of a servant. (Now don't get me wrong, I also knew it was going to be a great pleasure for her to get that gratuity at the end of the week too.) A servant's heart. Perhaps that's the posture we should assume as we "wait on the Lord". Arms no longer crossed, no tapping foot, no longer impatiently looking at a watch but with a towel draped over our arm. Facing each new day focused upon Him instead of our circumstances. Honestly starting each day looking intently into His eyes and saying "It's my honor and pleasure to serve you Lord", to really mean it and realize what a great honor it is to serve Him. His all-sufficient grace is greater than a gratuity. You want a real tip? Seek His face and not His hand. Gain God's favor! Not for a gratuity, after all a gratuity will not meet our needs but His promise to us is greater than our need.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah 40:28-31 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. There is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, BUT THEY THAT WAIT UPON THE LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint."
Do you need renewed strength? Wait on the Lord! Stop running with the weary and walking with the faint! Look up for your redemption draweth nigh. God blesses those who bless and gives to those that give. Those that give as a sweet smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. Phil. 4:19 "And my God shall supply ALL your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Remember that He is able to do "exceedingly abundantly above ALL that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us."
Hey! Whatcha doin' with that towel?
Jus' waitin', just waiting upon My Lord.
Be Blessed!