From heav’n You came, helpless Babe
Entered our world, Your glory veiled;
Not to be served but to serve
And give Your life that we might live
Last Sunday I heard someone talking about ‘serving one another’; I have been singing this song all week.
This is our God, the Servant King
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to the Servant King
Graham Kendrick wrote this in 1984 for ‘Spring Harvest’, an annual Christian conference. ‘Servant King’ was the theme that year.
If my faith says, ‘I follow Jesus’, I follow his teaching and example. I’m a servant to all; my life’s a ‘daily offering’.
There in the garden of tears
My heavy load He chose to bear;
His heart with sorrow was torn
‘Yet not my will but Yours,’ He said
Serving others is never the easy option. It’s a costly way of life. For the Galilean rabbi it involved tears, a heavy load and a broken heart.
Life today is self-centred; focusing on my needs, my rights, my friends, my reputation, my problems the world revolves around me. For the Servant King ‘self’ takes the lowest priority.
Come see His hands and His feet
The scars that speak of sacrifice;
Hands that flung stars into space
To cruel nails surrendered.
Talking about this song Kendrick said: ‘It was a challenge to explore the vision of Christ as the servant who would wash the disciples feet but who was also the creator of the universe.’
Musing on Paul’s words: ‘And he died for all, so that those who live should live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.’ (2Corinthians 5:15)
So let us learn how to serve
And in our lives enthrone Him;
Each other’s needs to prefer
For it is Christ we’re serving.
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