“The greatest among you must be a servant.” (Matthew 23:11 NLT)
A heart that is conditioned to serve never stops serving. If someone has already made that statement, please know that I have not heard it and I am not borrowing a quote. That statement is something that came to my mind as I was recently comparing my father’s life after retirement with my own the life after retiring, somewhat. (I did promise Him that I would serve Him until I die. The role(s) I serve in might have changed, but that expressed commitment has not been recalled to a folder of life that says, “No longer applicable,)
Parents, fathers and mothers should live such that their children can look backwards to help understand how to live best for the Master going forward at any phase of life.
In my new phase of life at nearly 77 years old, I still serve. I see the necessity of doing it, not only for the benefit of representing the Christ, or helping others, but to help keep a vibrant life. It goes in a continuous circle: service, vibrant life, ability to keep serving, and it keeps going. My father’s model of service is one of the reasons I continue to serve. The promise to the Father is primary. Wait? Let me ask a question, “How is your serve?”
Look at my father in his post-retirement years. Dad took up photography, carpentry, gardening, delivering meals on wheels, and doing physical work at the church that younger men did not see or view with a sense of urgency or through the prism of discipleship. Oh, Dad served as a Deacon, Head of the Board, and at times the filled in for the organist. I seen’t it! While I did not do all he did, I served at home, outside the home, and continue to serve in the church as the senior pastor requests me to fulfill an assignment. I serve at home, re re-staging the house, over and over and over, almost weekly, and my wife would probably say, “daily.” Serving outside the home, I fix meals for other families weekly. Back to the home front, I cook, help with household chores, do the grocery shopping, and apply my house décor principles to laying out suggestive outfits for my spouse. I’m her home fashionista stylist. Smile!)
Although I have passed the senior pastor torch to my oldest son, I still teach some of the Bible Study classes, help with the tutoring and mentoring program, and work on other assignments to help him as the church goes through a new phase. Of course, I am nearing the end of nine years writing Mark Writes meditations, but I hope you see this as service too.
Back to my dad. At 80 years old, years beyond his retirement, I recommended him as my replacement on the governor’s State Appeals Commission because I had my plate filled with the church, teaching at more than one college, and raising a quiver of children. Like I had to serve in that commission role, Dad had to go through a background check, and then he was readily, quickly accepted into the position. His background was filled with serving others, including our country in World War II as a high-ranking officer in the Army.
While the State Appeals Commission only heard cases once a month, it required a lot of reading and prepping. It was like you were getting ready to go against Perry Mason! My Dad enjoyed it, and he was most engaging in the sessions, hearing and ruling with other commissioners on cases brought before them as an alternative to an outside party. Oh, he loved bartering back and forth with the highly educated lawyers representing employees who claimed to be wrongly terminated. But look, he did not love doing it because of ego or esteemed recognition, but he loved it because it gave him another avenue or outlet to serve.
Well, I did not write all the above to have read for to satisfy my need to reminisce or reach back to the past, but I primarily want you to develop a servant heart and serve. I want you to see how your commitment to serving will set a great model for serving others, one that young people can look at and emulate from their hearts. Also, I hope you get the message that a heart conditioned to serve never stops serving.
My friend, set an example, even if it is unbeknownst to you that you are modeling what serving is all about. Keep serving for the benefit of your children and other members of the younger generation classification who will have a great benchmark for what a servant does.
The Lord loves His people who serve, for in fact, by their good deeds, they are serving Him. They are showing by their serving, that you have love for others. Thanks for reading! Remember Christ as our best example for serving! Follow Him! Be blessed!
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 Modern English Version)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King