Embracing Obscurity-Becoming Nothing in Light of God's Everything by Anonymous

Author:Anonymous
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Spirituality, Non-Fiction
Publisher: B&H Books
Published: 2012-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Embracing Servanthood

But Jesus cal ed them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and the men of high position exercise power over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become

great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:25–28

It is one thing to fol ow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a doormat

under other peoples’ feet. God’s purpose may be to teach you to say, “I know how to be abased.” (like Paul) Are you ready to be less than a drop in the bucket? To be so totally insignificant that no one remembers you even if they think of those you served? Are you wil ing to give and be poured 91

EMBRACING OBSCURIT Y

out until you are all used up and exhausted—not seeking to be ministered to, but to minister?

Oswald Chambers19

I once heard cancer described as a “kind killer.” Kind

isn’t the word that came to mind when I lost someone very

dear to me to the disease, but I can see their point: One

benefit of hearing that you have three months to live is that you have three months to get ready to go. For many of the

nearly 600,000 men and women who will die this year from

cancer in the United States,”20 their diagnoses will give them a chance to put their “affairs in order.” They can ask for an estranged daughter’s forgiveness, decide who will inherit their Elvis Presley collection, and maybe scratch the most important line or two off the ol’ bucket list. They can even plan their own funerals: “Open with bagpipe procession … Sing Amazing Grace before Uncle Jack talks. . Make sure the minister doesn’t mention so-and-so … And I best be dressed in my signature navy suit!”

At the very least, most people faced with immanent death

will write out a few last words. If you’ve ever watched the show I Shouldn’t Be Alive, you’ve seen this on a dramatic scale.

When all hope is lost, and some poor chap is marooned, starving and certain that all hope of a rescue is gone, he’ll go to great lengths to leave parting words for his family or friends.

He’ll scratch them into a shard of metal with a pocket knife 19. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers), “Are You Ready to Be Poured Out as an Offering?”, February 5.

20. “Estimated New Cancer Cases and Deaths by Sex for All Sites, US, 2010,”

American Cancer Society, Inc., Surveillance and Health Policy Research. http://

www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@epidemiologysurveilance/docu-ments/document/acspc-026210.pdf, accessed May 15, 2011.

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EMBRACING SERVANThOOD

Things of the World

Things of the Father

Make as much money as possible. Give as much money away as possible, and spend even yourself on others.

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