Principle Three from Jesus on Leadership

I took the day off to spend with my family yesterday, so I never got around to posting the third principle from the book, Jesus on Leadership by Gene Wilkes. You can probably guess the principle by the picture that I chose via Google to post with the registry this morning.

Principle three is to, "Find Greatness in Service." Wilkes tells the story about being at a banquet that was full to the rim with people. There was no tables left for seating, except for two tables that were labled, reserved for servers. He asked during his speech if it were because no one wanted to be labled as a server???

Great question, huh? We want to be served. We don't want to be the ones to do the serving. It reminds me of a scene in the movie Forrest Gump. Forrest is talking about Bubba's mama and her getting part of the shrimping fortune that Forrest gave her. He said, she didn't have to serve anybody anymore. From that point on they served her.

Our society has lowered the position of server. We think it is demeaning. Remember the movie The Breakfast Club? The janitor comes in to empty the waste baskets as says hello to Anthony Michael Hall. The other kids tease him by saying, "Your dad is a janitor here?" What in the world is wrong with being a janitor? We like a clean room don't we? No one likes filth! Someone has got to do the cleaning.

I have a man in my congregation who does the janitor work in our church. I can say with full confidence that he is without a doubt the person who most emulates Jesus in our congregation, me included! Augie never misses an oportunity to go out of his way to meet a new person. He looks them in the eye. He asks their name. He shakes their hand. He tells them that Jesus loves them. He has been doing this his entire life. There is a special place in heaven saved for Augie!

Wikes also talks about two women who died the same day a few years ago. Princess Diana was killed in an auto accident the same day that Mother Teresa of Calcutta died. Both women were known across the globe, but for different reasons. Diana was known because she was royalty. She was beautiful. She was Cinderella. Mother Teresa was known because she dedicated her life to be a servant. She lived in a less than ideal setting her entire life to take care of those who could not take care of themselves.

Wilkes asked the question, which of the two ould you rather be? To answer honestly, most would rather be rich, beautiful, and popular. We've seen the commercials with starving kids, and bloated bellies, and flies crawling in their eyes. What an ugly horrible life to live!

Which life did Jesus live?

I think it is important to re-examine our thinking. We must strive to find greatness in service and not in human reasoning. Good stuff!