{"id":89720,"date":"2026-02-22T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/club31women.com\/?post_type=devotional&p=89720"},"modified":"2026-02-23T07:35:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T15:35:36","slug":"learning-from-our-servant-god","status":"publish","type":"devotional","link":"https:\/\/club31women.com\/devotional\/learning-from-our-servant-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning\u00a0From Our Servant God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 20:28, NIV <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever missed a moment with God because you were expecting Him to show up one way but He came in another?<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"This<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Maybe you were listening for a big, booming voice, but He was speaking through flowers. Or you were watching for waves to part, but He was touching your face through the hands of a baby you held. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are You Missing Your Moments with God?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Jews were waiting for their Messiah. God had sent the prophets, the foreshadowing figures of Jesus, the Scriptures. The priests studied and prepared for the coming of the Lord. And yet when He came, most of the Jewish leaders completely missed Him because He wasn\u2019t what they were looking for. They let their own preconceived ideas and expectations rob them of recognizing their Messiah. They had interpreted the Scriptures and the words of the prophets to create an image of the kind of Messiah they wanted, a war hero. Someone to free them from their oppression in the earthly world. A leader to wipe out their physical enemy and give them freedom through a military victory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They certainly weren\u2019t looking for a baby, or a God who acted like a servant.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What kind of God am I looking for? Which aspects of God am I missing because of the box I\u2019ve put Him in?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Messiah\u2019s unexpected form didn\u2019t start and stop with the hectic circumstances of His entrance into the world. Instead of a warrior, He came as a defenseless child who was at risk of being assassinated, and the pattern continued as He broke out of the box of what people expected of their Messiah. He flipped tables in the temple, condemned the practices of the religious leaders, healed (\u201cworked\u201d) on the Sabbath, raised the dead, interacted with women and children, and taught that God was interested in Gentiles (the enemy) not just Jews (the chosen people). And piled on top of all that, this Messiah came \u201cnot to be served but to serve\u201d (Matthew 20:28). Jesus wasn\u2019t just a radical king interrupting culture and religion, but a servant king. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Last Shall Be First<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The concept of loving and serving to an unusual degree continues to set Christians apart today in a \u201cWhat can you do for me?\u201d society. It is the backward math of the kingdom\u2014where love looks like sacrifice, someone else paid our debt but we receive His reward, and leadership looks like going low and serving. Peter\u2019s refusal to let Jesus wash his feet gives us a clue of just how radical Jesus\u2019 actions and teachings were. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo the last will be first, and the first will be last.\u201d Matthew 20:16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"This<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Does the concept of God as a servant sit well with me? Do I know Jesus, the King who washes feet?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 parables, like choosing a lower seat at a banquet table (Luke 14:8\u201311), repeatedly gave more insight into the importance of going low instead of reaching higher in the kingdom. These parables teach us all to go low and put others before ourselves out of honor, not low self-esteem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not an Act<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jesus didn\u2019t merely give the image of being a servant king. He knelt and took the position of the lowest slave in a household, serving his friends, who rightfully should have been serving Him, while during the meal the disciples fought over which of them was the greatest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA dispute also arose among them, which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke 22:24<\/strong>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 act of washing feet was a real-life parable. He wasn\u2019t exchanging the form of God for one of a servant\u2014He was revealing the true form of God. A Servant King.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n