"Jesus said...You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whosoever desires to become great among you, let him be you servant. And whosoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave- just as the Son of Man come to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
(Mat. 20:25-27)
"So when he had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me teacher and Lord...so I am. If I then ...have washed your feet, you ought to wash each others feet...I have given you an example...that you should do as I have done to you...I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. ...blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:12-17).
Washing the feet of others was a servant's job in the New Testament, and for good reason. People back them wore sandals and walked on dusty, dirty, dug filled roads. One of the customs of the area was to have a servant wash the feet of people when they came to visit. Jesus had tried to teach his deciples about serving others, and they had not understood(Mat. 20:25-27). So he choose to gave them the perfect picture of what servanthood looked like by washing their feet(John 13:25-27). In doing so, he also gave us an example of how a leader should act.
Why do we become leaders at work or in ministry? Is it so others can look up to us and serve us? Or is it so that we can show others love by serving them? Jesus told us that we should serve others. If we want him to be pleased with us we need to do just that.
But how? You ask. Let's look at a play to understand this better. Putting on a play takes many people to do. Yes, there are the actors and actoreses that we see on the stage. But there are many people behind the scenes that are important too.
Here is a list of them...
The person who wrote the songs and play
The director
The one who teaches the dances to those in the play
Those who put together and painted the set
The people who made the costumes
The light and sound people
Those who promotes the play
Those who made and printed the tickets
The people who did the hair and makeup
The ticket sellers
And those who buy and attend the play
Now you will have to admit that a play would not be the best, if you didn't have these people all doing their jobs. As with a play, a ministry needs many people with different talents and skills doing what they are called to do, otherwise, it will not be as affective as it could be. WE need to all do our job, even if it is a job that no one sees you doing, like writing something that can be used of God or directing a ministry. Do all that you do to the glory of God.
