I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
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.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...
