I recently had a mentor share a few Bible passages that could be considered, “life verses”. Each verse containing a foundational Biblical truth. As a family, we recently talking about this one: “Choose this day whom you will serve”. (Joshua 24:15a)
Each day there are choices. For instance: Did you eat breakfast, or did you skip? Did you turn the TV on, or leave it off? Did you drink a cup of coffee or choose to have a glass of juice instead? Choices are all around us.
On a much larger scale than coffee or juice…in the context Joshua 24:15, who will you serve today? Yourself? Your family? Your sinful nature? Your Heavenly Father? Again, all day long, there are choices to be made. Paul echo’s the words of Joshua when in verse 1-2 of our reading he says, (Vs. 1-2) “So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”
Today, remember that you are a servant, even if you are “the lead leader” in your business. While we might have subordinates below us…every one of us is a subordinate of Christ. Paul says, “men ought to regard us as servants of Christ…”
Of all the words that Paul could have picked, the fact that “servant” was selected means that service is significant. We also can see significance in service in that Christ himself served, ultimately serving all of humanity by dying in our place.
While significant…service also means sacrifice. Service cost Jesus his life. Paul also knew the pains of service (vs. 9). As with Paul and Christ, so with us. Service will cost you something. It might mean swallowing pride. It might mean acting or speaking in humility vs. haughtiness. It might mean rolling up your sleeves and working vs. waiting for someone else to do the job.
As far as what a Christian servant looks like, Paul paints a great picture in vs. 12-13 of our reading. He says, “We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.”
Cursed…persecuted…slandered…scum…refuse…who among us would say, “I’d like more of that please.” Serving will always cost the servant something. That being said, as we benefited from what Christ did for us at the cross…why not seek to bless someone else? Rather than “about us” it could “be about them”.
I once heard someone say, “We are never more like God, than when we serve”.
Today, why not take the risk – “Choose this day whom you will serve…” What I don’t know what that will mean for your life, I’m sure at the end of today, you’ll be glad you acted as you did.
