Do You Want to be Great?

In Mark 9:35 Jesus told His disciples how to be great. He said, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
Consider four obstacles to being that kind of servant.
You will struggle to be a true servant if:
1) You are filled with pride
2) You have not denied yourself and taken up your cross
3) You are consumed with your rights
4) You are concerned with positions and titles and prestige
The common denominator in all of these obstacles and struggles to be a servant is me; it is self.

But consider ten things that a true servant will do and be.
A true servant:
1) Knows that there is nothing that is beneath him
2) Is never inconvenienced by serving Jesus and others
3) Will help and will give whether they get anything out of it for themselves or not
4) Serves out of delight and not out of duty
5) Serves so that people will see Jesus and not him
6) Is not just concerned about what is done, but about how something is done
7) Is always on the lookout for ways to serve
8) Realizes that serving is about people
9) Will get tired (sometimes exhaustedly so), but will not quit
10) Realizes that as they serve others they are ultimately serving Jesus

The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 3:23-24 and says, “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” When you serve others it is not as if you are serving Jesus; but it is you serving Jesus.
It was Jesus who gave us the ultimate example of that kind of service. In Mark 10:45 Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The ultimate example of serving others was seen as Jesus hung on the cross for my sins. God in the flesh becoming the sacrifice and payment for every wrong that I have ever done against others and against Him. Dying in my place, for my sins, not coming to be served, but coming to serve as my Savior and my Redeemer, even at the price of His own life.
So now I can and must be a servant of Jesus and others because Jesus has bought me at the price of His life. Therefore, I am His possession and this now frees me to serve Him and to serve others because my life is not my own.

Do you want to be great? Here is how you do it: live as a servant of Jesus and a servant of others. That is how you achieve greatness in the Kingdom of God and that is how you really live!