7. We Must Decrease, For Him To Increase

"Jesus called the Twelve and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all'." - Mark 9:35

Through my experiences in the past couple days I have learned a lot about what a servant is, and what it means to be a servant, not only a servant of man, but a servant of Christ. I think this verse truly describes what it means to be a servant. In thinking about this verse I decided to write down a few thoughts I had concerning how we should look at service overall. In order to become a steadfast servant through Christ, we must first devote ourselves to these ideals. We should remind ourselves of these things often, in an attempt to truly understand what service is and how God wants to instill it in us for His will. We must remind ourselves that:

My life is not going to be about myself.

I'm going to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

I can't change the world, but I can change my own destiny.

I know what God wants. I know what God's looking for.

I'm going to be a servant.

Our Christian lives will never make sense until we learn how to serve by "rolling up our sleeves and jumping in". Until we serve, our Christian lives will always be an obligation. Godly disciplines will feel like burdens until we get off the bench and into the game. Spiritually speaking, we'll never get the "wind in our sails" until we fully and completely commit to imitating Christ in regular, humble, faithful service. As Luke 9:23-24 states, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life, for My sake, will save it." This verse has been my theme verse for a couple years now, and it has always reminded me about how much I can strive to do better, to persevere, and through devotion, serve my brothers and my fellow man. 

We don't have to ask God if He wants us to serve, He has called every one of us into a lifetime of service. I know God wants to do something great with you—so whatever He's calling you to do, do it with your whole heart. Others may never assign greatness to your life, but in serving Christ you will have the assurance in faith, that you have lived a life fulfilled by God and no one or nothing else. Keep the faith, and serve as Christ first served us.