Scripture
Our verse for today comes from Luke 22:27, ” For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. “
Background & Application
How important do you want to be? How much influence would you like to have? You probably haven’t stopped and asked yourself that recently, if ever. And I don’t think we consciously spend much time thinking about it that way. Instead, we think about being a leader or making a difference. We have ideas that we think would be beneficial to others, or we have goals that we set for ourselves to keep us striving and improving. We’re more familiar with the feelings that come from being included or sought out than we are with the specific thought process of being important or wielding influence. But it’s that feeling of inclusion, that exclusiveness that comes with being in the know, that works on our hearts and gets things out of perspective. The pride that comes from being seen, or from being with certain people, moves our focus off from where it should be. And this can happen all too easily as believers. We may be deeply involved in doing the Lord’s work, and our eyes can get taken from God’s plan of the gospel and put onto my plan of the gospel.
The ones who seem to be included or privileged can get caught up in the process, while the ones who aren’t in that inner circle can desire that position for its own sake. Satan wants us to feel important, he wants us to feel entitled. And if we’re not, he wants us to feel like we should be. He wants us to crave the taste of it. He tells us to sit at the table, or do everything in our power to get there. Why, even Jesus says he who sits at the table is greater. Yet He came to serve. As the greatest, He became the least. He couldn’t sit at the table because He had a cross to bear, and you can’t recline and eat with that across your back. So, greatness or servanthood. Which one appeals to you? Stop and ask yourself how important you want to be.
Charge
As we seek Him today, look for ways to serve Him, remembering that as we do to the least of these, we do unto Him. Thank Jesus for giving up His place with the Father to take your place on the cross. Experience why the Lord said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
