"Mentoring As A Servant: A Lesson in Perspective"
I learned the hard way, while in Mexico, that having a true servant’s heart is all about perspective. Serving is easy when it involves something that I like to do, want to do, or makes me feel good about myself or stand out in a crowd, when it turns me into someone to admire and emulate. And it’s especially pleasant if I actually get to hear about it when people notice! After all, a good stroke of the ego is always nice, right?
But what the Lord drove home through many hard lessons and rebukes, often from my co-laborors and those I thought I was “serving”, was the same thing He made very clear to his disciples: “if you want to be great in the kingdom, you must be the servant to all. The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Well, what he referred to when he mentioned servants were the people in Israel who never got noticed, never got praised or thanked for doing their jobs, were often mistreated, disrespected, and walked all over in society. That is NOT a pleasant experience, let alone an entire existence, and it’s a hard thing to swallow….
Until or unless we find the right perspective.
In the chapter on mentoring as a servant in Woman to Woman: Preparing Yourself to Be A Mentor, Edna Ellison talks about serving on our knees, and she refers to the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet. Every time I study this account, something deeper is revealed to me. This time, it was about perspective. We need a knee-level perspective if we want to be true servants to others, whether as mentors or just as followers of Christ.
What really stuck out to me in this account, this time, was that Jesus KNEW. At the beginning of John 13, it says that Jesus knew that Judas had already been prompted by the devil to betray him later on, which we find out later in the account. But at this point no one else but Him knew!! He was the only one. He had not revealed it to the disciples yet, nor did Judas know that He knew! And yet, He still got up, took the basin and the towel, got down on his knees and taught them about true agape love and service by washing the feet of every single one of them….even Judas!
WHY?! HOW?! Perspective. Jesus spent his life on his knees before the father, and the result was that Jesus not only knew what Judas was about to do, but He knew something greater. He knew the security He had in his union with the Father. He knew the peace that comes of living in utter faith in the goodness and grace and sovereignty of the Father and of His plan. It says in v. 3 that He knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. He knew who He was, where He had come from, where He was going, and the power that was going to accomplish it all, past, present, and future. Jesus had already told the disciples in John 10 that they would KNOW the truth, and the truth would set them free, and He was a living, breathing, manifestation of that promise. The perspective He had about His identity, His source, His goal, His Father, provided complete security, as it says in Isaiah 26:3: “YOU will keep in PERFECT PEACE him whose mind is steadfast because He trusts in You.” That perfect peace freed him to do the unimaginable, the inexplicable, like wash the feet of the man who would turn Him over to the most excruciating death that He did not deserve. The most excruciating death that He would die to pay a debt that belonged to us, not to Him. He had nothing to fear, and no reason to hold back. No one could challenge what He knew, or rob Him of it, not even death. It was totally, perfectly, secure. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain….and so do we!
Why not do it for those around us? I know for myself that I fail to kneel down and serve others many times because I’m uncomfortable. The task grosses me out, or I don’t like it, or I feel inadequate or ill prepared. Whatever the reason, I promise it is self-centered and has nothing to do with the Father who has equipped me for every good work (as it says in 2 Peter 1 and 2 Timothy 3), nor does it have anything to do with those around me whose eternities are not so secure as mine, who have no guarantee of the provision I receive, who have yet to understand the security and freedom that is really truly theirs, or could be theirs, in Christ.
See, when we are that secure, we are free to serve, and when we serve from a true servant’s heart motivated out of that knee-high perspective, then we become links between those we encounter and true, utter LIFE. Not because of us, but because God is just that gracious and good and awesome. In the study, this was likened to the chief domestic servant in Victorian aristocratic homes. This was the person who made sure that the lady of the house and her family had everything they could need or want. Any errand, he/she either carried out personally or made sure someone trustworthy took care of it: grocery shopping, cloth shopping, acquiring skilled persons to carry out household tasks or care of needs for the family members, etc. As the author states, “This special servant linked the wealthy woman to life.”
That is what Jesus did! As the Word of God in Creation, in His life on earth, and as our mediator and intercessor high priest at the right hand of God, He is our eternal link to LIFE. And as we participate more and more in that life, we become pipelines for that life to flow to others in this world. His Great Commission to us was to do as He did….to go and make disciples as He continues to disciple us, whether through His Word one on one, or through the relationships He puts in our lives. And we are then to turn around and serve others by doing the same. Often, mentoring is characterized as a position of leadership…and it is, but it is primarily a service to others, one we should offer gladly. We may not FEEL equipped, but when the Lord opens a door and makes it clear that you should walk through it, FEELING ill equipped will keep us utterly dependent on our only source for effective ministry. And I promise, whether we FEEL it or not, He does provide what we need when we need it. His children, His disciples, never lack what they need to carry out His purposes on this earth.
But we are only useful in those purposes when our perspective is right: It’s gotta stay knee-high or we get too high and mighty and take ourselves out of the game. As Beth Moore has said in many of her studies, “In God’s economy, the way up is down.” When we are on our knees, the only place to look is up. The Psalmist said in 121, “I lift my eyes UP, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord.” He has promised over and over to provide for every need…not just our material, physical, or spiritual needs, but also what we need to fulfill His purposes. In addition, we need to know that when things don’t go the way we hoped or planned, He is there helping us. How many times in Scripture have the men and women of God agonized over situations and people in their lives, or circumstances, or trials, and there was always someone there to strengthen them. Often it was an angel or another man or woman of God. He always provides what we need, be it resources of any kind or help when we don’t know what to do or how to proceed. But it’s found on our knees.
The way up is down; the greatest in the kingdom is the servant of all; and service starts and ends on our knees. If we guard the right perspective, we WILL be servants because we will be living in a posture in which we may be useful. It is a posture of surrender and humility, a posture that points to and draws from the Father rather than ourselves. It is a posture of power, even in weakness. It’s the posture and perspective of a mentor, even when we are unaware that mentorship is taking place. Think about the people who have stood out to you, who have left an impression in your life whether direct or indirect, and I promise that if you look again, you will see that they were living and serving on their knees. It’s all about perspective.
