SERVITUDE

What bread is for hunger, Jesus is for the Soul. Bread is a staple that is eaten every day by every person in every nation. If the poor have nothing, they have bread. If the rich has everything, they still will want bread. Maybe by this reason alone we can see why Jesus makes His claim as being the Bread of Life; for He knows that it is the one staple that sustains life itself for every person on earth.

While bread is eaten in many forms and fashions depending on the circumstance or occasion it is served, it always manages to serve its purpose and meet the need of those who partake of it. You see, Jesus meets our needs the same way. The need may be different each time, but He is always up for the job of meeting them.

God packaged His bread of life in the wrapper of a carpenter, and gives us the key to the delivery truck. Hmmmmm….that reminds me, have I shared with someone today, that I know someone who can help in their situation. Have I delivered a kind word of encouragement to someone that I know is going through a hard time right now? Have I helped where I could?

I was sharing with the Ladies in my Bible Study the other night that sometimes, I feel like I will burst if I can not find someone to encourage. Maybe encouraging others does not always come easy to you. There are many things that don’t come easy for any of us, but when it comes to lifting up the broken hearted and downtrodden we are all required to do what we can… Maybe instead of encouraging someone you may need it yourself right now…..may I encourage you today sweet friend, no matter where you are and what’s happening in your life….please know this, there are so many others that are where you are, feeling the same pain, experiencing the same hurt…Jesus said Himself…that we do not have a High priest that is un-sympathetic to our weaknesses….but understands them in every way, for you see He too went through hurt, pain and difficulties and yet endured to the other side of them….

As I was telling the ladies the other night…that if I were to poke one of the ladies with a pin and burn the other with a match, would they both not feel the same pain. My friend, you don’t have to go through what I go through to know pain. Your pain may be brought about through totally different circumstances than mine, but I bet our pain feels the same when it enters our heart.

It’s so easy to get sidetracked from what’s really important. What we are all really called to do…..to simply love each other….and here is a test that you can take yourself to determine what level you are loving at.
Simply ask yourself when was the last time that you served someone instead of being served yourself. When you put someone else before yourself…..I mean, listen to this story and think about how it may pertain to you:

Jesus and the twelve disciples were getting ready to sit down at a table in Jerusalem for "the last supper," the last one that the Lord would take with them before His crucifixion. As the disciples came in they began taking their places around the table. Now keep in mind that there were places of greater or less honor to sit depending where the master would sit down Himself. I believe that it was at this time when there arose a dispute among them as to which one was the greatest. Can you imagine what Jesus must have thought as He heard them arguing with one another over this subject…I’m the number one apostle says one….No, I don’t think so because I keep the commandments better than you says another….You guys are crazy, I brought more people to hear Jesus than any of you, suggesting still another…..As they argue, the Lord simply gets up and walks over, fastens a towel around His waste, pours water into the basin and began to wash the disciples feet and wipe them off with the towel. The disciples knew that this service was one that was done by the most humble or least of servants yet here is their leader, their savior, their Lord setting before them the greatest example of humility that they have ever laid their eyes on. The room became quite. No one said a word. All you could hear was the water as Jesus picked it up with his hands and dropped it over and over each foot that was being washed. Listen, you can hear it in your mind. What a moment. The Lord of heaven bowing before them doing a service to them that they should have thought to do for Him.

It seems to me that the Lord spared those guys of being publicly rebuked (which they deserved) and quietly got up and changed the entire atmosphere of that room as He knelt down to show His great love for each one of them. He never pointed out any one man over the other. He simply responded to their questions by His actions...not what He said. That my friend is what servitude is all about ... action!

I find the more that I ask Jesus to help me to be more like Him, the more He reminds me of the cost in doing so, and I realize that to be like Him I must be willing to pay....the real cost of servitude is being willing to serve at my own expense. Being a servant to someone is like setting a broken bone. Helping to repair what satan often times is trying to destroy. It is ministring the love of God to others.

Someone you know may need your time, some of your money, a ride to the store...maybe someone to clean their house. The Bible says that whatever your hand finds to do...do it wholeheartly as unto the Lord!

So may I encourage you to grab a towel....and go to washing! Somebody somewhere needs you to show them Jesus today!

I love you today....Bren