No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another (with unselfish concern), God abides in us, and His love (the love that is His essence abides in us and) is completed and perfected in us. 1 JOHN 4:12 - Aplified
Recently I was contemplating, again, the concept of God's beauty. As a worship leader, I lead many songs that speak of His beauty. At times I've checked in with myself about how much I believe it. Like you, I want to see for myself!!
But time and again my heart comes back to the assurance that God, Himself, is so magnificent that He simply gives us glimpses on this side of eternity. This passage above speaks of this.
For sure, when we allow ourselves to be flooded with love, releasing others of our judgment and letting go of ill feelings, we get clearer eyes. Our hearts become tenderized and we begin to see God's beauty in the face of those around us. Of course we can also see it in nature, that's a given, (and a good reason to get in nature as much as possible), but He made us in HIs likeness. When we serve someone out of love, we start to see Him.
He's not left us without. I think He just knows that when we finally see His actual face, we will need our new, heavenly bodies to be able to handle it!
To think that Jesus, the King of kings, came to serve us is extremely difficult for us to fathom. Yet, that’s precisely what he told us he came to do, so to ask us to follow his lead in serving others is significant, to say the least.
Following his brilliant leading, we discover that serving is first about seeing each person—truly seeing every human creation as a significant, unique, made-in-the-divine-image child of God. Next, it’s about being present with that person. That requires a choice to lay aside our own agendas, perceptions, and judgements to be Jesus in any way God’s Spirit nudges you in the moment.
This is the only way we can, without resentment, feed the hungry, invite in the homeless, cover the poorly clothed, care for the sick, visit those in prison. And Jesus reminds us that “When you cared for one of the least of these, my little ones, my true brothers and sisters, you demonstrated love for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Richard Rohr explains our need to identify with the death of Christ to experience his resurrection life, and thus, how to serve in the same way Jesus did:
“Death and life are two sides of the same coin; we cannot have one without the other. Each time we choose to surrender, each time we trust the dying, our faith is led to a deeper level, and we discover a Larger Self underneath. We decide not to push to the front of the line, and something much better happens in the back of the line. We let go of narcissistic anger, and we find that we start feeling much happier. We surrender our need to control our partner, and finally the relationship blossoms. Yet each time it is a choice—and each time it is a kind of dying. It seems we only know what life is when we know what death is."
“We can begin resurrection today by living connected to God. Resurrection happens every time we love someone even though they were not very loving to us. At that moment we have been brought to new life. Every time we decide to trust and begin again, even after repeated failures, at that moment we’ve been resurrected. Every time we refuse to become negative, cynical, hopeless, we have experienced the Risen Christ. We don’t have to wait for it later. Resurrection is always possible now.”
I’ll end with a few word pictures the Apostle Paul paints of what being a servant looks like:
“Take tender care of one another with fondness and affection; esteem one another’s unique value.” Romans 12:10 (Mirror)
“Purpose with resolve to treat strangers as saints; pursue and embrace them with fondness as friends on equal terms of fellowship. Make yourself useful in the most practical way possible.” Romans 12:13 (Mirror)
“Affirm the worth of those who try to put you down. Affirm them, don’t try to put them down harder.” Romans 12:14 (Heart of Paul)
If your enemy is hungry, give him food. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. By your actions you will reveal the contradictions in his behavior. Romans 12:20 (Heart of Paul)
Your life hidden in Christ is the truest version of your authentic self. This is the sweet spot where you experience the joy-filled life Jesus came to share with you.
Jesus had a way of flipping just about everything upside down from the way the world wants to tell us things are. In a conversation with his disciples, he told them “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.” (Matthew 20:25-26, NLT)
Come on, you’re just not going to hear that in the “Young Entrepreneur’s Rise to Fame” seminar. Not even in the advanced course! Yet, Jesus not only said this is the way of his Father’s Kingdom, but he lived it!
“Jesus’ mission was not to prove his deity, but to embrace our humanity. Emptied of his reputation as God, he fully embraced our physical human form; born in our resemblance, he identified himself as the servant of the human race. His love enslaved him to us. The man Jesus Christ who is fully God, became fully man to the extent of willingly dying humanity’s death at the hands of his own creation. He embraced the curse and shame of the lowest kind in dying a criminal’s death.” Philippians 2:7-8 (Mirror)
He also demonstrated a life of serving others in remarkable ways: He made time for those whom others would ignore and walk past; He had great compassion on those others would judge; He kept no record of wrongs of those who betrayed him, even washing the feet of Judas who Jesus already knew would turn him in to begin the most undignified and unjust trial in all of human history that would lead to his gruesome death on a cross. Yet, instead of thinking of how wronged he was, he only thought of those whom his death would reconcile for eternity, once again serving us in perfect love:
“Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!” Hebrews 12:2 (TPT)
And now Jesus invites us into his realm of servanthood, one in which love rules the day:
“Live happily together in a spirit of harmony and be as mindful of another’s worth as you are your own. Don’t live with a lofty mind-set, thinking you are too important to serve others, but be willing to do menial tasks and identify with those who are humble minded. Don’t be smug or even think for a moment that you know it all. Never hold a grudge or try to get even but plan your life around the noblest way to benefit others. Do your best to live as everybody’s friend.” Romans 12:16-18 (TPT)
Don’t think of this as a try-harder-to-be-a-servant program. That will never work in a million years (we’ve all tried!). Instead, realize this has always been a ‘Christ in me, the hope of glory’ infusion and that his life through us expresses itself in these most beautiful, glorious ways when we yield to his Spirit leading the way. This is the abundant, fulfilling life Jesus promised us. It’s upside down from the world’s ways, but that’s actually because the world sees things upside down from heaven’s kingdom. You are living right side up with Jesus!
