Servanthood
5-8Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
Philippians 2:5-8 (The Message)
21Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.
Ephesians 5:21 (The Message)
The other day I was reading this with several other guys from the church in relation to our relationship with our wives during our men’s group. The discussion that ensued from the reading of these passages convicted each of us, as we each shared the mistakes and failings that we’d had in the past couple of weeks in our marital relationships.
We discussed how we didn’t listen to our wives, how we did not make the time necessary for our families, how we valued our own opinions over theirs, how we had been self-righteous in our opinions.
How we did not view Christ first before our marriages.
As we were reminded of Christ’s own servant leadership, the Deity who became man to serve us, in obedience to OUR Father, we realized our failings and prayed and re-committed ourselves to following the example set out by Jesus.
We are to be servant leaders in our homes, to humble ourselves in service in our marital relationships, the way Christ did and continues to do so, for His Church.
It cannot work any other way.
2 Responses to “Servanthood”
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By Kev, July 28, 2007 @ 2:38 am
Amen brother. I realize every day that I must lead by example because I don’t want what I say or do to drag her down.
By Andy, July 28, 2007 @ 6:20 am
Thanks Kev. It’s a challenge each day, but I know that He’s guiding me through each step of the way.