I Am Not Second

This week I have the joy of working with my hands by cleaning at home, reading a book, memorizing more verses from Romans 8, studying Hebrews, and listening to sermons. All of these have created a sense of rest as the week is more laid back than any have been so far this summer.


Though I could speak of several experiences, I would like to single out one meditation that came today from hearing a verse. As I was listening to John Piper preach from Hebrews 2:1-4, there was a mentioning of how Christ "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."


As I thought about what Christ was saying, my mind was continually in awe. The Son of God - the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world - came to serve? Wow! Jesus' purpose wasn't to conquer an oppressive Roman empire. It wasn't just to do a bunch of miracles; it wasn't to win crowds to Himself. It wasn't to do the coolest trick, to join the circus, to give out candy, to heal every sickness, to cure every blind man, to save the trees, to talk politics, or to fix every hurting family. It was to serve.


He came to wash feet. He came to die.


In a letter I received this week, my friend asked me who I wanted to become. I replied in saying that I long to be a person who loves God and people so much that he would die for them. And such was Jesus. Now I understand a little more. Now I long to be the person who loves and shows that love in service. I long to clean the toilet and wash the dishes, to feed the dog and run to the convenience store - even when it's not convenient at all.


I run hard to be a loser in this life. Paint the X on my back. Brand my arm with an S. Pierce my ear with an awl. Clothe me in rags. Yeah, it's sounds cool in a paragraph, doesn't it? Everyone wants to be like Jesus in the upper room washing feet. Everyone wants to repeat Isaiah's cry: "Here am I, LORD; send me!" But who wants to take the time to talk to irritable children? Who wants to speak the message that God promised everyone would reject? Who likes to go do street/sidewalk evangelism to a city who is lukewarm, to a bunch of people who have already been "saved" and don't need to do that Jesus thing again? Who wants to go down to the local homeless shelter and volunteer to hand out dinner trays? Who will clean that dirty shower?


Are you still saying, "Here am I; send me!"


There's nothing pretty about a slave. I sure don't like grabbing a rag, taking of my socks, and climbing into that shower to scrub the walls. When I think that I want to wash someone's feet, I typically don't picture the kind of feet Jesus washed - covered in dust, blisters on the soles, dirt under the toenails, maybe a few scabs and some dead gnats or something. Cleaning up the cat poop on the porch isn't pretty. Burying a dead cat is worse. Burying a beheaded cat is almost too much for a person sitting in a air conditioned, spacious log cabin on five acres of Indiana soil and trees - laptop working, Internet up, blog updated.


But we're still challenged to the dirty work. I've mentioned a lot of nasty things, but all pail in comparison to a cross painted red, a back torn to shreds, a beard ripped out, a tongue glued to the mouth's roof - and the Son of God experiencing punishment for sin, begging His Daddy why He, the agonizing Son, was forsaken. That was the cost His life's ransom.


Maybe mine will be running in front of a bus to save a stranger some day. But until that happens, my calling is nasty toilets, angry children, stained showers, smelly dogs, and dirty rooms. Because if the Son of God came to serve, I exist to serve and resolve this day to live my life as a ransom for others.

Mark 10:45

Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.