Matt.20v26-28: Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be slave just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

What is the pathway to greatness? I know that there are so many ways, but one major and sure pathway to greatness is service. The secret of greatness lies in service and service is the pathway to greatness. If you want to be great, you need to be a servant or server. This is what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was trying to communicate to his disciples in our text scripture in Matthew 20 verse 26-28. He was trying to make them understand that the way up is the way down. He wanted them to realise that whosoever will be great among them must be prepared to serve and he exemplified this by his example. He lived among them as someone who served, no wonder he was still the greatest of all. If you wonder how you can become somebody in life, you need to consider giving yourself to service seriously. The problem is that most people want to become great in life and are not ready to serve; you cannot become something or someone in life without going through something. This is why you need to realise that the surest pathway to greatness is through service. By the way, what does it mean to serve? The word serve means the following:

• To be of use to somebody or something.
• To function on behalf of another.
• To minister to or to work for another.
• It also means to meet the needs of another. At this juncture, I would like to share some questions that you need to ponder upon if you will truly understand the concept of service.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER ON:

1. Whom are you serving?  Are you serving God, yourself or man?
2. What purpose are you serving?  You need to realise that everyone is called to serve a particular purpose or the other, and the earlier you discover this, the better the kind of service you will be able to render them.
3. What are you doing for the kingdom of God and humanity? I want to know that our service is supposed to be geared towards a particular target.
4. Under who are you serving? It’s important for us to realise that we are called to serve to a certain degree under some people. This is what you see from the life of Samuel when he was serving the Eli in the temple (1Sam.3v1).
5. How can we serve? There are particular ways in which we are supposed to serve and I would like to share with you some of the ways by which you and I can serve:
   
   * You can serve God with your time and your availability. It is important for you to realise that God cannot use someone who is not available (Isa.6v8).
   * Serve with your treasures and resources. This is another important way by which you can render service (Lk.8v2-3).
   * Serve with your talents, abilities or skills. Every one of us is gifted and talented to one degree or the other and these resources are avenues by which you can serve the Lord (Rom.12v6).
   * Serve with what you have. Everybody has got something. Everybody can render one form of service or the other. This is what the woman with the alabaster box of oil did in (Mark 14:8); she served with what she had.
   * Serve where you are now. You are currently somewhere now and you can make your mark for the kingdom right there. So stop waiting for perfect conditions. Instead, begin to serve right where you are (Eccle.11v4).
   * Serve God under somebody. This is another way by which we can render service. The disciples served under the supervision of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Matt.4v19). And scriptures also talk about Elijah serving under Elisha (2Ki.3v11). My dearly beloved ones, I believe that you can see from our discussion today that service is the pathway to greatness in life. So if you want to experience God’s lifting in what you do, you need to be a server! Enough of sitting down; it’s time to get busy for God! Enough of watching from the sidelines; it’s time to get involved! May your labours never be in vain!

Other Scriptural References: (Acts 13v36; Dan.1v8: 6v22; Jn.9v4: 5v17: 12v26; 1Cor.15v10; Lk.22v28-30).

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, I choose to embrace from today the culture of service in all that I do. Thank you for making your grace available for me in Jesus name.

CONFESSION: I choose to be a server and not an onlooker. I choose to be a servant in the house of my God. I will serve the Lord to the best of my abilities and my strength. My whole life, I devote myself in service to the Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for this wonderful platform of rendering services to you and also affecting humanity for good and the glory of your name. Thank you, Lord Jesus, because I will serve you all the days of my life. Glory be to Jesus because service is the pathway to my lifting and promotion in life.

Pastor Yemi Adeoti

Yemi Adeoti is a pastor, teacher, life coach and mentor & also a prolific writer.