Daily Devotional 5/2/26

Matthew 20:26-27 (NKJV): Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave…

The Greek word translated “servant” means “an attendant”. It contains the idea of someone who executes the commands of another. The word translated “slave” comes from the word that means “to bind”. When I see these words in a verse, I reflexively want to find another verse to talk about. The words “servant” and “slave” has such loaded continuations in our society that talking about them automatically puts our defenses up. I say this to remind myself to be careful with how I treat today’s verses. I have to remind myself who spoke these words: Jesus. I have to remember that Jesus would have been talking to a people that had different relationships to the words servant and slave than we did. I also have to remember that Jesus is talking about something that is spiritual. The questions we have to start with is who are we serving? Who are we binding ourselves to? If the immediate answer is not God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, then we need to adjust how we view things. We are not meant to attend to and bind ourselves to other people. We are only meant to attend to and bind ourselves to the Living God. If we start each day knowing that we are in service to the Lord of Lords, then we will find that Gospel of Christ Jesus is lived out in our lives. When we start each day in the agape love of Jesus, we will find ourselves in service to the Kingdom of God. This will allow us to bring forgiveness, love and mercy into the lives of other people and ourselves. Today, may we start to live more fully in service to our Redeemer.