Dare to Serve

So, I watched Regency House Party - a documentary/reality show where people live, dress, and behave as though they were in the Regency era - and I noticed a theme that is common in these types of reality shows. People often have a hard time showing respect to those portraying someone of a higher class, especially in the beginning. We're not used to that in our modern day society.

So, I wondered, what's the big deal? You signed up for this experience. You've only been there a day and already you want to quit? Why? It's pride. Their pride gets the better of them, and they act disrespectfully in an effort to keep from losing "who they are."

I mean, I get that serving an upper class, and behaving demurely in that type of situation just rubs a lot of people wrong. The whole class system can still be a bit of a sore subject. Sometimes it is for me too. I don't like the idea of serving someone else or having my own opinion trampled on by someone else.

But then, I thought, isn't that what Jesus did? He's Lord of all, King of kings, and He came to serve, not to be served.

So, what if, in any situation - not just something like a class/hierarchy-based reality show - we chose to serve as Jesus served, not giving up our opinions or being afraid of rubbing someone the wrong way, but didn't deliberately pick fights, weren't deliberately disrespectful, and tried even harder to keep our pride from opening our mouth and letting out anger?

What if we dared to serve as He did, lowering himself from Heaven to Earth, becoming human in the humblest way possible, in order to sacrifice himself for all of us?

What if we sacrificed even for those who hate us, who rub us the wrong way, who make our pride rear up and try to take a swing? What if we dared to serve, especially when we feel like we're "too good for that," recognizing that we really did come from humble, lowly beginnings, and just because we have been elevated into The King's courts, doesn't mean we get to be snobbish?

What if, instead of wondering "How dare they?" we ask "How dare we?"

How dare we not serve as He served?
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Jesus said "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).