How to Serve Like Jesus
When you picture a leader—do you picture yourself?
We all have spheres of influence, which means each of us are called to lead in some capacity. And if we follow Jesus, then we are called to follow the leadership example He set out for us—wherever we are, in whatever we do.
When Jesus washed His disciples feet, he was demonstrating their need to be spiritually cleansed, but he was also showing them what His standard was for leadership. To lead like Jesus, His disciples would need to demonstrate humility and serve others sacrificially.
“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:28 NIV
In first century Israel, washing someone’s feet was typically a servant’s job. It would have been radical to wash His disciples’ feet and then command them to do the same thing. This would have placed each of the disciples in the position of a servant.
But to be great in Jesus’ eyes was to sacrificially serve others. And in order to sacrificially serve others, you need to be willing to view others as better than yourself.
This doesn’t mean that you have a low opinion of yourself. It means that you have such an accurate view of yourself that you don’t see yourself as greater (or less) than you actually are. You see yourself the way Jesus sees you: as someone worthy of being served and worthy of serving others.
It was out of love that Jesus served His disciples, and it was out of love that Jesus willingly went to the cross and sacrificed Himself for us. Jesus illustrated that if we want to become great leaders, then we need to humbly serve others.
And if we want to lead like Jesus, then we need to be like Him.
So right now, ask Jesus to shape the way you view yourself and the people He’s placed in your life. Then, allow Him to show you how you can serve someone from a place of confidence and love today.
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for ...
“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD's servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable. But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, ...