Text - Mark 10:45; 2 Cor 5:20-21
Imagine this for a minute. You decide to take someone’s death sentence, perhaps your sister. One would expect her to be sober, repentant, sorrowful, grateful inside - all the expected emotions. Imagine her spitting in your face instead. Throwing stones at you, swearing at you, making a mockery of you as you’re being taken to the place where your life will be taken instead of hers. Let this mental picture sit for a second.
Guess what.
This is what our Lord endured for us, only far worse than the picture in your head right now. He willingly suffered for us without making any demands of us. He literally poured out all of himself on the cross, no restriction.
Pondering upon this, the line of a certain song comes to mind, “what manner of man is Jesus?” A question that human words are not enough to answer. Such selflessness.
As believers, recipients of Christ’s love, we are called to be imitators of Christ - ambassadors of his kingdom. This means we are to do the love walk just as he did when he walked the earth. How did he walk the earth? He gave all of himself. He made sure he affected the lives of everyone he came across, without demanding any form of payment or respect. Unfortunately, many of us are doing quite the opposite these days. God gave us gifts through his Spirit to use for the edification of the church, to strengthen one another and to attract those who are still lost. Instead, we end up commercialising the very abilities we received free of charge.
Since Christ came to serve and not be served, why are we doing the opposite when we should be imitating him?
Christ’s focus was mankind, not the honour that was or wasn’t being given to him. On the contrary, we have shifted our focus from the souls of our brothers and sisters to the honour we think we deserve. This misplacement of priority is costing us the souls of many men.
The time to realign is now. Honor is not ours to demand. Our business is to represent Christ by living selflessly, walking in love without looking back. Christ never looked back, we don’t need to either.
Prayer
I am sorry for all the times I have neglected my responsibility to serve and have chased after men’s applause instead. It is my desire to walk like you, so when men see me they see you. Please make this my experience. Amen.