Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Because we are prone to misconceptions, we need a different viewpoint. Jesus graciously gives us His perspective in all areas of our lives. In Luke 17:7-10, He speaks about servanthood. The gist of His teaching is that a servant should not expect to be treated as anything other than a servant: “We have done that which was our duty to do” (verse 10). Certainly this outlook runs counter to the modern self-esteem movement (which is actually ancient and started with Lucifer’s rebellion against God; Satan thought that he deserved more and better – see Isaiah 14:11-15). However, we should not deprecate servanthood, for Jesus “took upon Him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). In John 13:16, Jesus reminds all of His followers that “the servant is not greater than his lord.” Thus, we are to serve willingly and gladly. I think of I Chronicles 26:18, where we find “two at Parbar,” serving in obscurity at the backside of the Temple. These guards rarely saw anyone, but they were doing God’s work. Really, all we need to know as servants is that we are doing the work that God has set before us. Truly there is value in our labor.