To Serve Or To Be Served

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to serve, not to be served."

He also said, “Those who desire to be first will be last; the last shall be first."

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are constantly lead to surrender ourselves and give of ourselves in order to serve others. The more we seek to know Christ, the more we grow familiar with this. Taking all of this into consideration, it seems almost preposterous to think we might be able to become too familiar with this. Let me explain.

For most of us, we don’t really have a problem or an issue with serving. We’ve grown to enjoy and find pleasure in serving others and giving of ourselves. However, where we do seem to have a greater struggle, in certain circumstances in life when we are the ones in need, is in allowing others to serve us. We have a very hard time being served.

On the surface, this seems right; this seems like we are doing what Jesus directed. But the problem is in the WHY. Why do we have such a tension and struggle with allowing others to serve us when we are the ones in need? Why is there such difficulty in letting someone else serve us?

Here’s why:

It’s humbling.

It makes us vulnerable.

In fact, (on the flip side) in the midst of serving – which seems selfless in and of itself – we can actually at times have self-centered motives. We would never verbalize this, but somewhere in the depths of us there is a voice that whispers: I would much rather someone feel like they owed me then me having to feel like I owed them. As if everyone else is keeping score. Jesus said we’re essentially supposed to lose sight of the scoreboard. There is no score. There’s your heart and their need.

Being served says, "I need you."

Being served acknowledges, "I can’t do all of this on my own."

But think about this in terms of being part of the Body of Christ. If you’re sick, or your loved one just died, or you’ve just had an emergency C-section or appendectomy, or you were just in an accident and still recovering - whatever the case may be - this is now an opportunity for someone else to find joy in serving you. It’s now about their heart and your need. Don't rob them of this. Or yourself.

Because it’s also still about your heart. Your humility.

As a foster family, maybe all of your closest friends are not being called to foster like you. Maybe they are, however, being called to come alongside you, serve you, and love those children.

Maybe you found yourself in the role of caregiver – taking care of an aged parent or grandparent. Perhaps your friends or the members of your small group or missional community are in a different place in life, but at the same time, fully ready, willing, and able to serve you as you give of yourself to take care of the one who raised you. 

At some point, we have to realize that Paul’s exhortation to the Galatians to “bear one another’s burdens” works both ways. Sometimes we have to come alongside. Sometimes someone else needs to come alongside us. Either way, we have to have the humility to serve and to be served.

I encourage you to ask the Lord to prepare your heart to be ready to find great joy in having the opportunity to serve and to know that you’ve been served. This is the way of the people of God.