The Secret

Mark 9:³⁵ (ERV) “Jesus sat down and called the twelve apostles to him. He said, “Whoever wants to be the most important must make others more important than themselves. They must serve everyone else.”

Isa. 55:⁸ (MSG) “I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree.” No wonder Jesus says, if you want to be first you have to be last. God’s way of doing things has a way of messing up people’s thinking. If you want to be the leader you have to be the servant. If you want to be on top you have to deliberately put yourself at the bottom. The world says if you want to be on top you have to brandish your credentials. While there may be nothing wrong with that because that is how the system of the world works, however, if you want God to lift you, you have to humble yourself. That is how The Kingdom works.

You will have to humble yourself. You have to take the path of humility. You have to be a servant. Whoever wants to be first must take the last place. If you enter an organization and you desire to be promoted, Jesus says, you should look for a lesser place and take it. Wow! When most people enter an organization and want to be promoted, they look for the power brokers and hobnob, trying to be visible. Jesus is saying, take the last place and whoever wants to be first must be a servant of everybody. Guess what? This is actually the secret of getting to the top. In any industry, this principle Jesus teaches us is the secret of getting to the top.

As a business person, if you can serve your customers and by this I mean you are genuinely interested in serving them and solving their problems, you will always have a business. Similarly, if you are teaching children and you are genuinely interested in caring for them, there is no way you will not be promoted. In any field, if you are genuinely interested in solving your boss’s problem, if you are passionate about solving all your boss’s problems, even if your office is downsizing and hundreds are fired, you will be secure. Why? Your boss will probably pick who stays or goes based on who is solving his problems and who is causing problems for him. The real reason a lot of organizations are stagnated is that they have stopped serving. The reason a lot of marriages are in trouble today is that one party or both parties stopped serving. One person stopped serving the other and started saying, “what about me?” When this is the focus of anyone in a marriage, what happens is that it becomes all about him or her. But when you focus on serving the other person in marriage, the home – the entire family, becomes stronger.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, I ask for the grace and wisdom to genuinely serve in my sphere of influence and walk in God’s way of leadership, in Jesus Name. Amen!