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April 7, 2020 - Join Pastor John for a Daily Devotional

“The Secret of Success”  
Toward the end of Jesus’ life, he had a conversation with his disciples. James and John had seen all of it coming together and figured, “It’s now or never.” They needed to nail down their cabinet positions. So they said, “Lord, with your kingdom about to come in a few days, you are going to need a vice president and secretary of state, so we have a favor to ask. Grant us to sit one on your right and one on your left when you come into your glory.” It was a power play, and when the other disciples got wind of this, they were really miffed, mainly because they had the same idea in mind for themselves. Those other disciples were upset, but was Jesus? Not at all! Jesus had known all along this was the question uppermost in the minds of his disciples. Jesus understands our need to stick out and be special. Instead of rebuking James and John, Jesus joined in common cause with them and said to his disciples, “Whoever would be great among you must be a servant.” Jesus says there’s only one path to greatness: be a servant. When you think about it, servanthood does lead to greatness.
Unfortunately, there is no March Madness this year, but I will still give you an example about basketball. Have you ever seen a successful team where everybody was in it for themselves? There is no better instant recipe for a one-and-done, is there? You won’t win many basketball games that way. Why? Nobody passes. It’s all about me. Now, you may have some of the prettiest slam dunks and make the Top 10 Plays on ESPN, but the other team always scores more points. However, when you get teams where there’s not a lot of raw talent, but they serve each other, give up the ball, pass, play good team defense, — they tend to win, and have a lot more fun doing it. You see, ego torpedoes excellence. Servanthood sets us free to focus on the task at hand. Servanthood sets us free to be great. Jesus said, “If any of you would be great let him be a servant.” 
May all of you have servant’s hearts as we travel this Holy Week with the “Suffering Servant,” who is Jesus Christ our Lord.