Jesus knew the authority and power God gave him so he could live a humble life, serving others while maintaining his high self esteem. God gives us the same authority and power so we can do humble things yet still feel esteemed and important to God. Then we can enjoy our calling from God no matter what we do. God gives us the same peace he gave Jesus. Please join me as I look at Jesus’ example and then compare it to our own lives.
Look at John 13:3, “Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” Jesus was confident, because he knew his position in heaven even while on earth serving others. But what did he do with this knowledge? Read verse 4: “So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.” Knowing his power and position, he was not ashamed to perform the lowliest job.
Look at verses 12-17 from that chapter, “After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher,’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow; do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” That last line is especially hard—God expects us to do humble things too. We have to forgive oppressors, serve others, and perform lowly deeds our society deems unworthy. We must avoid complaining, because Jesus did not complain while serving.
Jesus did not just serve people, in general, but us personally. He humbled himself in ancient Jerusalem, and he humbles himself when he serves us today. He listens to our worries and cares. He listens to small children who might pray seemingly frivolous prayers like, “Jesus, please help me catch a lizard.”
Yet, despite the lowly work he does, Jesus was and is powerful. Look at his description in the transfiguration. In Luke 9:28, Jesus’ clothes were described as “dazzling white,” and in verse 31 Jesus was, “glorious to see.” Look at Jesus in Rev. 1:16, “His face was like the sun, shining in its strength.” Jesus was so radiant that John fell down, as if dead, because he was so terrified by Jesus’ glorified appearance.
We might have trouble identifying with Jesus’ ability to do humble things while never forgetting who he was. Instead, we might think that since our work is lowly, we should only think of ourselves as lowly in value. Please don’t confuse thinking well of yourselves with arrogance. As I described in my post “Highly Esteemed –You,” I explain that since God so highly esteems us, we get to highly esteem ourselves. This empowers us to hold our heads high when we do any kind of service Jesus calls us to.
Some “lowly” jobs are not bad, like changing a beloved baby’s diaper or washing dishes for family members we dearly love. But when we sense God calling us to forgive an oppressor, or do something kind for that person, we might feel we are giving in to their insults and disrespect. This is an area where we need to have emotional health and discerning from the Holy Spirit. I know a woman whose father abandoned her family when the children were small. He made great wealth, never gave any to his family, and squandered it on loose living. When he was old and frail, his daughter took care of him. But when this selfish man demanded she give him a pedicure, she balked. Her husband was also appalled and told her she must not do it. But this gracious man said he would go and clip the selfish father’s toe nails. He knew his wife should not have to do something that lowly, but he could do it, because he did not have the history of abuse from that mean old man.
Sometimes God tells us to refuse an oppressor’s demands, and our selfless service may be our coolly polite, “No,” as we walk away. We see Jesus doing this when the Pharisees demanded a miraculous sign: Matt.16:4, “Only an evil and adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. Then Jesus left them and walked away.” Sometimes we may serve that person, but still with a safe detachment. For example, a nurse tended to a man’s wounds when she was the first to see him at an accident site. Then she quickly walked away when help arrived. That injured man had molested her when she was younger. I know the nurse who did this, and I asked her how she could do it. She said she used her nursing skills to objectify the man long enough to tend him and then quickly walked away when she could. I don’t know if I could do that or not, but God gives us grace when we need it.
So it is essential we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us if the lowly service involves someone who has wronged us. Sometimes those people use our Christian faith to guilt us into doing what they are capable of doing for themselves, and we should not comply. God can help us to know what to do. But in matters where our humble service involves harmless people, or at the worst, people who are grumpy or thankless, we can ask God to guide us. We might be patient with a surly employee at a store. We might hold open a door for someone who does not thank us. We might serve a friend or family member who has recently been rude to us. We would need to confront him, but if he is desperate, we help first and later work out the differences.
In closing I want to emphasize that God highly esteems us so we can serve others in lowly ways. We need the Holy Spirit to help us to know when to serve and when to say, “No.” And when we do serve, we can hold our heads high, knowing we are the esteemed daughters of God, just like Jesus held his head high when he served the church 2,000 years ago and today.
Thanks for joining us in this week’s post. How I pray this frees you to live, with joy and high esteem, the life God has called you to. I plan to write part two for this post and talk about our life’s calling when our work seems humble. May the Lord bless you this week.