I'm With the Band

I'm with the band. How many times have we heard that in life. Humans love to be great. We love to be heard, we love to be known and we love to be popular. I write blogs to express myself through writing. I don't check my stats or expect many to read this, but I feel lead to put it out there. But, to be perfectly honest, blogs, facebook, and myspace can all be tools for self exaltation. In a band, who is the one who gets the most interviews, the most press, the most "friend" request? The lead man/woman. Right? It is like this in life for some people. This has been generated by our media, our culture, and our advertisements. All telling us to be number one or at least desire to.

Everyone wants to have a purpose. They want to aspire to be great and do great things. We crave attention. What gets neglected sometimes are all the little things that help develop us into what we were made for, what we are destined to do. It is easy to over look the moments in which we can deny ourselves in order to serve others. In our culture of America, getting to the top is one of the most promoted things in our little world. But what it takes to get there is another story and it comes, at times, at the expense of others disregarding them as mere hinderance. I am not saying that striving for greatness is a bad thing. Oh no, no, no, no. Greatness is what God has called us to. But it is not the kind of greatness this world deems as great.

I know, I know, your thinking; "Here he goes with this Jesus stuff again. Well, you are right. So here it goes: Jesus taught that to be the greatest is to be a servant. (Luke 9:46-48) The disciples even fought over who would be the greatest when they got to heaven. But what Jesus teaches us is that to be the greatest is not to be the best, the richest, or the most popular, it is about submitting your life to God and worshiping him above else. The highest position and the richest person is not what God desires. He wants us to be totally depending on Him for everything. When we are so enamored with earthly accomplishments, we focus on our idols instead of God. We can become self exalting.

So what does this mean for us? Do we get so lowly that we try intentionally to be poor to identify with others? Do we give everything we have away and live on the streets? No, I don't believe any of that is necessary. What I think Jesus means here is to be mindful of different circumstances you may be in. At your job, do more than is necessary to get the job done. If you see a piece of trash on the ground at your Church, school, job, anywhere, pick it up and trash it. If you see a co worker needing help at work, help them even if it is not your job. If your neighbor is in need of your help, help out. If your house is dirty (men) and your wife has just had a hard day clean that junk. There are many different ways to serve each other, little things. What is hard about all of this is getting over ourselves. Being "too good" to do something is pride, it is a killer.

Don't be afraid of being a back up singer or a roadie who sets up all the gear. If Jesus is your front man in the band of your life, let him sing and get all the glory and press. This is what we are called to do.