How to Have a Servant’s Heart
I had made a half batch of cookies the day before, and my husband and I were sharing the last few remaining cookies out of the cookie jar. We both reached for the jar and realized that we were down to the last cookie.
“You can have it,” my husband immediately responded, pushing the jar closer to me.
“Thanks,” I said as I quickly grabbed that last cookie and greedily bit into it as if I hadn’t just eaten several cookies two minutes before.
I’d like to say that I’m exaggerating, or kidding, and that I’m not that selfish or that I at least pretended to want to give the last cookie to my husband. But I’m not exaggerating, and I’m not kidding, and unfortunately, I’m definitely that selfish.
I’m currently reading through John, and as I got to the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, I was humbled by the selflessness of Jesus and the model of behavior that he calls from each of us.
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How to Have a Servant’s Heart
Through his life, as well as through this story in John, Jesus offers us the perfect example of how to have a servant’s heart.
Love your people.
John 13:1
… having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
This story begins with Jesus knowing that his time was about to come to an end, and in the same sentence we learn that in his final hours, Jesus chooses to love his people. He loved his people during his time on earth, and when it’s about to end, he continues to love them to the very end.
If we want to have a servant’s heart, we need to love people from the beginning, all the way to the end, just as Jesus did.
Act on that love.
John 13:4-5
4… He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
During his final meal with his disciples, Jesus doesn’t merely tell his disciples how much they mean to him or how much he loves them. Instead, he physically gets up from the table and acts out that love by going to each disciple, one-by-one, and washing his feet.
This duty was typically reserved for a slave to do, but Jesus removes his outer garments and kneels in front of each disciple to wash his feet. While Jesus could have asked any other person in that room to fill that position, he instead takes on the role himself and proves his love with his actions.
To have a servant’s heart, we need to act on our love as well.
Walk in humility.
John 13:12-17
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
When Jesus finishes washing the disciples’ feet, he explains that if we are to call him our Lord and Teacher, then we need to humble ourselves and follow his example to serve one another in love.
As his servants, we are not greater than our master, and we are called to humbly serve because he first served us.
Dear God, I am so humbled by Jesus’ example in this passage of scripture, and I am so grateful that we are able to love because you first loved us.
I pray that I can humbly follow Jesus’ example and serve with love in this life. Thank you for sending your son and blessing us with his example of how to have a servant’s heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Jesus offers us the ultimate example of how to have a servant’s heart by loving people, acting on that love, and walking in humility through this life. I pray that you are blessed by his example. I am, and next time, I will at least offer the last cookie to my husband.
Blessings Friend.
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