Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

mark 10:42-45

Jesus, our divine example, did not merely present us an aspirational, ideal version of a believer; that approach would suggest a certain level of acceptable imperfection from the point of view of the work we undertake. I do not mean to say we should produce no mistakes but rather we should not practice behavior which reinforces mistakes or causes repeated mistakes. It’s the difference in doing our best and missing the target and never really aiming for the target at all.

So what example should we follow? Be “good people” with sterling morals and a clean conscience? If only that were enough, so many more would be Christians. No, a believer must be a slave to goodness, an unfailing servant of godliness, totally dedicated to obedience of God through service to others.

Humility comes in two ways: humble yourself or be humbled. Let’s follow Jesus example before we have to learn the hard way.

Ethan Kirl