Servanthood

I went to church this morning, it was amazing... it made me think all day. I'm still thinking about it, trying to grasp it all....

Matthew 20:25-27
"Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.' "

When Jesus says "not so with you", it's because we're different. We're not supposed to be like everyone else, think like everyone else, act like everyone else. We are called to be different.
The pastor has been talking about what our heart attitudes should be like when we're serving, and what will keep us going and going instead of burning out. If we have the wrong motives, we will quickly fail. But if we have our priorities straight, we will succeed.

We were talking about Jesus' example after he feeds the five thousand...
Matthew 14:22-23
"Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone."

This is what we should be like... Jesus is able to serve continually and show compassion on everyone because his main priority is His relationship with His Father. We can't seek to serve for accolades or recognition, or to make ourselves feel better, or to assuage our guilty consciences, because our servanthood will not last a day.

Also take the example of Martha and Mary...
Luke 10:38-42
"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!'
'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.' "

The problem here is that Martha's priorities are out of line. Granted, there are many things in life that need to be taken care of, and Jesus understood that Martha needed to prepare dinner... but the main focus must be your relationship with God. Nothing else can take the place of that. This is why Jesus said, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed". Also understand that when you focus completely on the Lord, there are things that will fall to the side and not be taken care of....

But ask yourself, which is more important: the world, or the Father? When your priorities are where they should be and your main focus is Yahweh, everything else will fall into place.

"Mary has chosen what is better"....

I want to be a Mary.