Serve me!

via

I was watching The Ellen Degeneres Show a week ago and she began the show by discussing coffee.

Oh, how I love coffee.

Of course, when you talk about going out and getting coffee, Starbucks is usually one of the popular options.

So Ellen asked the audience, "Who goes to Starbucks everyday?"

Hands shot up in the air.

She points out one young lady and says, "You really go to Starbucks every day or Monday-Friday?"

The girl replies, "I go everyday...Monday-Sunday."

Ellen, of course, gave a look as if to say, "Seriously?!"

Instead, Ellen said, "Did you know that there are 87,000 drink combinations at Starbucks? So what do you get?"

With a shameful look on her face, the girl replies, "Earl Grey Tea."

Ellen about lost it. "Plain Earl Grey Tea everyday?! How much do you pay for it?!"

The girl laughs and says, "$2.50" (I could be wrong with the price.)

Ellen in disbelief says, "Don't you know you can go to the store and buy a box of it and drop a bag into a mug?!"

With a chuckle, the girl says, "Yes."

Next thing she knows, she's running down the street to buy Ellen a coffee (at Ellen's request) and herself a tea. She comes back to deliver Ellen's coffee and is sent back to buy George Lopez a latte. 

It was pretty comical. 

So where am I going with this?

It's not to dis anyone and their Starbucks daily rituals, of course, but a perfect analogy about service.

Everyday, this young lady would go to Starbucks to buy a drink that didn't require much work.

It wasn't a complicated coffee with soy milk, light whipped cream, 4 packets of Splenda, and caramel sauce, but a simple tea that could be easily made at home or the office.

Many people may say, "Well, she's just lazy" and maybe they're right to an extent, but I think it goes deeper than that. 

I think she likes to be served.

I don't think it's completely her fault either. 

We live in a consumer society, so it would be hard not to buy into it.

When we live a life desiring to be served, we diminish the Gospel in our lives.

A little fact about me: I don't like to cook. That doesn't mean I won't. I just don't like it. So of course, if I had it my way, I'd go to a restaurant. Not because I'm lazy, but I simply don't like it.

 Not to mention, it's nice to sit at a table and have food and drinks served to you. 

I'm not saying we should completely eliminate Starbucks and restaurants from our daily lives, but to dig deeper into the heart of service to others.

Here is the problem. If I applied this to my social life, I would no longer be spreading the Gospel.

Acts 20:35 says, " In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Sometimes we may be too tired to serve. Sometimes it will be uncomfortable to serve. Sometimes we just want to be served instead of serving.

In those times, we should remind ourselves of Jesus' words, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

I would think the young lady on the Ellen show enjoyed "serving" Ellen and George Lopez more than Ellen simply buying her beloved Earl Grey Tea. 

I could imagine her telling people, "I got to buy Ellen Degeneres and George Lopez' coffee!"

Serving can be fun and life-giving, even when they aren't celebrities.

Instead of wanting to be served, we should be wanting to serve because that's what Jesus did.

 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” ~Mark 10:45

at your service

 

Today I was reading my devotional book for the year (My Utmost for His Highest) and I had to share it with you.

 

When you think of a king what do you think of?

Well, I picture a throne, a man with a crown and many people waiting on him hand and foot. I picture a man that people bow down to. I picture a man who rules the land.  

 

As Christians, we serve a King...Jesus Christ. He is the one and only true King. He's not like the earthly kings, that's for sure. He performed miracles. He was crucified. He was resurrected. He lives forever. No king can compare. Another thing that separates Christ the King from all the rest is His character.

 

Earthly kings expect people to serve them. They expect to have their feet rubbed. They expect to have the finest of jewels. They expect all of their desires to be given to them without moving a finger. Jesus didn't work that way. Let me tell you why...

 

Matthew 20:28 says, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve." Sit with that for a bit.

Jesus Christ didn't come expecting to be served, but came expecting to serve others.

That's huge, if you ask me. No king has ever lowered himself to serve others, but our King...the one, true King has.

 

Jesus wants to serve us. He is the King of kindness, humility, and love (along with many other things...check out my In Him We Find series). Because He shows us what a servant's heart looks like, we should in turn serve others. It is when we serve others that God's heart of service is shared.

 

We should never think we are too good to serve others. We should never place ourselves higher than others, with our nose in the air, because the only person who has a right to do that, never did. He lowered himself in order to serve, instead of expecting to be served.

 

Oswald Chambers writes, "Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake."

 

Because He has served us, we should serve others for the sake of serving Him.