“—by love serve one another.”–Galatians 5:13
It is worth our while to think of love’s true attitude to others. The spirit of serving is different altogether from the spirit in which men usually think of others. The world’s attitude is that of self interest. Men want to be served, not to serve. They look at other men, not with the desire to be helpful to them, to do them good, to give them pleasure-but rather with the wish to be served in some way by them, to have their own personal interests advanced through their association with them. Even friendship too often has this selfish basis-the gain there will be in it. But the love which Christ came to teach us, looks at others in an altogether different way. Instead of asking how they can be made profitable to us, it teaches us to ask in what way we may be helpful to them.
Jesus put it in a sentence when He said of Himself, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto-but to minister.” A study of His life in this regard, will make His meaning plain. He never demanded attention. Conscious of His divine glory, He never exacted reverence. He used all His authority and power, not to humble men beneath Him, nor to compel them to help Him-but in serving them and doing them good. The picture of Jesus with the basin and the towel is one of the truest representations of His whole life. He lived to serve. (By J. R. Miller, 1898)
