Humility That Leads To Healing
Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.
Mark 9:35
Imagine you’re in your favorite store waiting to be “waited on” when someone mistakes you for an employee. Are you flattered or embarrassed? Do you laugh, or are you offended? Being mistaken for a sales clerk can be humorous. It might also be highly revealing!
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In Mark 9 and 10, Christ had more to say about serving than he did about being served.
Dwight L. Moody, whose ministry often placed him in prominent positions, shares two examples of the stature of the servant.
WALK WITH DWIGHT L. MOODY
“There is a story told of William Carey, the great missionary, who was at a party attended by the governor-general of India. Also present were some military officers who looked down upon the missionaries with contempt.
“One of those officers said at the table: ‘I believe that Carey was a shoemaker, wasn’t he, before he took up the profession of a missionary?’
“Mr. Carey spoke up and said: ‘Oh, no, I was only a cobbler. I could mend shoes, and wasn’t ashamed of it.’
“The one prominent virtue of Christ, next to his obedience, was his humility. And even his obedience grew out of his humility.
“In his lowly birth, his submission to his earthly parents, his contact with the poor and despised, his entire submission and dependence upon his Father, this virtue—consummated in his death on the cross—shines out.”
WALK CLOSER TO GOD
Isn’t it strange how many vie to be first when, according to Jesus, the prize goes to the one who is last?
William Carey was not ashamed to be a mender of soles and heels, if only by that he might find opportunity to be a mender and healer of souls.
To be called “only a servant”—some would call that an insult. What would you
call it?
