The One Who Serves

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.  

Luke 22:27 

Where did Christ invest His time and labor? He invested it in people. If we recall His remarks from the Sermon on the Mount, we remember His counsel, ‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.’ How can anyone lay up treasures in heaven? At the bare minimum it involves attention to the welfare of our own soul. He remarked elsewhere, ‘For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?’ Having said that, we would not really grasp the whole of the example Christ gave us if we attend solely to ourselves. All Christ did was for the sake of others. His incarnation, perfect life, public ministry, and substitutionary sacrifice were all for the benefit of others. His resurrection, perpetual intercession, and return, all benefit others. In every way, under all circumstances and conditions, Christ has been among us as the One Who served. Therefore, by His example, He has invested wholly in what is eternal. All His earthly time and labor went to the larger purpose of preparing for eternity. If we are to understand the essence of the well-invested life, we must look to Christ. He has lived that life before us. He has, in word and deed, shown us the way. If we are the imitators of Christ, we will be among others as the one who serves. Every day, in all circumstances and conditions, we will encounter others in every context, whom we may serve in one way or another. In following Christ’s example, we lay up treasures in heaven with a well-invested life.  

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that You lead by example. 
We praise You that in every way You practice what You preach, 
and we learn to imitate You.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning