Called by God for greatness

“But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26)

Many of us may have heard, whether growing up or now while in college, that it is necessary for us to be servants. We never think twice about whether we have to serve or maybe never even think about what it means to be a “servant”. At times service may seem to be a “burden” on us, especially during the times when we are most busy with school. It is essential to know why we serve as it gives us a boost and reminds us of the reason why we entered the service, instead of simply becoming discouraged and not giving our best efforts in service anymore.

Why do we serve?

It is important to connect every single little thing in life to Our Lord Jesus Christ’s life, as He is the model of holiness and of the lifestyle we are each individually called to live as Christians. From the moment our Lord Jesus Christ was born, even until now, He has been the greatest Servant of all. At the time of His birth, He showed us true sacrifice, a significant aspect of service, by stepping down from His glory in heaven and accepting to be born of the virgin Saint Mary in a lowly manner in a manger. He even showed us the model of service hours before His death. He washed each of His disciple's feet, one by one, knowing very well that they would end up abandoning Him in the most painful time of His life. We even see the command to serve as Our Lord preached. He says to each of us “But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26) Of course what our Lord is speaking of in this verse is our greatness in Heaven. We never seek our glory here on earth but are always seeking the reward to come from God. It is clear that to be true imitators of Our Lord Jesus Christ, it is needed to be servants just as He was and continues to be.

How do we serve?
 

Whenever a person thinks about service, the first thing we automatically think about is serving Sunday school. We have such a limited view of service that we think that service is only giving lessons and educating others. Even though these are very great forms of service, we can serve in so many other ways. In our daily lives, we have ways to serve. Simply smiling at someone is a service in itself. Showing love to people who have no one to love them, treating everyone around you with kindness not knowing the circumstances they are dealing with, helping others around you and going the extra mile with them (Matthew 5:41); all of these are great services we can do in our daily lives.

Though it is important to serve the flock outside of the faith, and strangers, it is just as important to serve the people of the faith. Our Lord demonstrates this in the gospel of Luke, chapter 15. This chapter of scripture speaks about three parables (stories given by our Lord to help the people understand a message He was giving): the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. First, the lost sheep. The lost sheep is a symbol of someone who was never in the church and never knew about God. As we know, the shepherd's task is very difficult and dangerous coming with many obstacles (dangerous animals, weather, etc.). In our case, when reaching out to the lost sheep, there are the obstacles of criticism, rejection, hatred and all the evils of the world. Nevertheless, we see the example of our Lord, in which, despite all of these obstacles, He goes after this single lost sheep. Teaching us to push through, through the grace of God, to bring these lost sheep back to the flock. The second parable our Lord gives is of the lost coin. This lost coin is a symbol of a person who is a Christian and goes to church weekly but is lukewarm. This person, though he is in the church, or in the case of this parable in the house, is “lost”. In the story we see the woman sweeping all over the house to find this one single lost coin. Our Lord is commanding us to do this; not to ever stop searching for this one coin until it is found and returns to the true life with God. In the third and final story, we see the parable of the lost son, more well-known as the prodigal son. This lost son is someone who is a Christian but left the church and lives a life completely separate from God. Each of these three cases, in the parables that the Lord gives us, has its own way of being dealt with, but in all three scenarios, love is the center of focus and most important. “Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:8)