Matthew 20:28
“WHAT DO YOU WANT TO be when you grow up?”
The answers we receive are all over the map. One youngster recently told me he wanted to be either a car mechanic or a garbage collector. When I asked why, he gave the classic nine-year-old response: “So I can get dirty!” I smiled and understood as I reflected on my own childhood.
Imagine asking Jesus Christ what He wants you to be when you grow up. I honestly believe He would give the same answer to every one of us: “I want you to be different . . . to become a servant.” He wants us to get dirty for Him!
That sounds lowly . . . humiliating . . . lacking in dignity. But it’s the truth.
We find it encouraging to think of ourselves as God’s servants. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a servant of the King? But when it comes to serving other people, getting down into the dirt of their experience and offering them the hope of Christ, that’s a different story!
Christ gave us the ultimate example:
Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.
MATTHEW 20:28
To be a servant of God, we must learn how to serve people—that means, when necessary, getting dirty for His name.
In business and work, and especially in ministry, the concept of serving people must undergird all that we do. When we serve, we think first of the One we serve with our whole hearts—Jesus Christ. He left the portals of heaven and came to us—to the dirty, gross, sin-soaked planet, to roll up His sleeves and bring us back to God.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Are you ready to roll up your sleeves for Him today? Study Christ’s example. He will show you how to do it.
Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord . . . Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved. The full devotional can be purchased at tyndale.com.
