A salient thing I have learned from Baylor is that there is joy in serving those around you. God never calls us to be successful, rich, or important. He calls us to serve faithfully. As I walk through my years at Baylor as an intern, an assistant, and a friend, I notice so many opportunities to serve. We don’t have to be the best and the brightest to do His will, but we are called to ministering to those around us with servants’ hearts. Ministry is the prime opportunity to serve God, rather than serving yourself.
We like to put serving in a box, a mission trip attitude that we have for orphans and the homeless. However, Jesus calls us to so much more than serving on church trips and weekends. He calls us to serving with our lives. Life is an opportunity to give grace and to imitate Jesus, serving with humble spirits, seeking ways to help and encourage those around us.
It is picking up Starbucks for your roommate and cleaning out your mom’s car. It is listening, freely giving compliments, and buying flowers for a friend having a bad day. It is consistently offering yourself up to Christ, and serving His people faithfully without complaint. Ministry is found in spontaneity.
Grace & Submission
The disciples were a ragtag group of tax collectors and fishermen, and Jesus himself knelt and washed their feet. That is the beauty of grace. It is kneeling at the feet of those who wrong you, those who criticize you, those who are above and below you. It is remembering that ministry is found there, at the feet of those who don’t deserve it – because none of us do. Serving is accepting God’s grace, and remembering that all the good ministry does is through His grace and His power.
“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. -John 13:14-17
Kneeling at the Feet of Judas
What blows my mind is that Jesus knelt at the feet of Judas, the betrayer, and washed his feet. He submitted himself to Judas in the most lowly form possible.
Today, I think about whose feet I should be washing.
Christ calls us to discard pride, and strive for humility, grace, and knowledge that we are fallen and broken but He loves us still.
It’s a daily submission to Him, a daily acknowledgement that if He can kneel at the feet of Judas Iscariot, then I can fulfill His purpose for my life by serving those around me with boundless joy. I can fill my ministry with servant-hearted men and women who love Christ with their whole self. I can see ministry through the lens of a servant dedicated to her master.
Callie Hyde is an honors student at Baylor University. She writes for a blog called Sincerely, Callie (www.sincerelycallie.com) and is part of Baylor Spiritual Life’s Freshman Retreat, a small group leader at Highland Baptist Church, a Green’s Scholar, and co-creator of Open Book, a group for Baylor freshmen that encourages fellowship and faith with other Christians seeking mentorship and friendship.
