8 Days to Prepare Your Heart for Easterਨਮੂਨਾ

A Choice To Serve

By Kia Stephens

“What do you want your loved ones to say about you at your funeral?”

During a mandatory staff workshop, this question got my attention.

I thought about the list of achievements I hoped to accomplish by the end of my life. But in the end, this is what I hoped people would say: “Kia was a loving mother, a devoted wife and a faithful friend.”

The goal of this exercise was to help participants focus on living with the end in view. I believe this also may have been Jesus’ mindset on Holy Thursday.

Jesus knew His time on earth was limited. But instead of making the end of His life about Himself, He made it about others:

“So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him” (John 13:4-5, NIV).

When Jesus removed His outer garment (which identified Him as a rabbi), revealing the robe closest to His skin, He demonstrated unusual vulnerability. He exchanged that title for the title of slave or servant, someone who washed the feet of a wealthy master when he returned home from traveling.

Washing dirty, smelly feet was not the job of a Savior, but Jesus willingly did it as a selfless act of love and servitude — even for the disciples who would betray and disown Him.

In His final hours with the disciples, Jesus modeled the way He wanted to be remembered: not as a king expecting to be served but as a slave humbly serving.

Jesus knew people worldwide would one day choose to place their faith in the God who came to earth to serve. He knew that acclaim would not impact these souls, but His taking on the nature of a servant would. Our lives are forever changed by His choice to serve.

Christ invites us to die to ourselves daily through serving others. No matter the awards we amass or the approval we receive, we can choose to take on the nature of a servant, just like Christ. And that decision will drastically change the world.

God, thank You for demonstrating humility and sacrificial love. Help me to choose a life of service in gratitude for all You’ve done for me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.