How Good is Your Serve?

Do you know what sport Jesus played? According to the Bible, He said it was tennis: “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45). And He urged His followers to watch out for His return.

Okay, just kidding. That’s not at all what He meant. I know that. But it does clearly say that, despite being the Son of God – God incarnate – Jesus came to serve us. What does that mean?

Jesus Christ came to serve - but
not on the tennis court!

Christ’s service to us took many forms. He served by teaching, giving timeless principles for living rewarding and successful, "abundant" lives. He directly healed many people of their disabilities and diseases. He provided a model for us to follow in how we conduct our own lives. 

Most important, He made the ultimate sacrifice in the most profound sense, dying on the cross as the once-for-all-eternity atonement for the sins of mankind. “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God” (Romans 6:10). Or as 1 Peter 3:18 expresses it, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.”

Jesus the servant. What images does that conjure up in your mind? Better yet, if someone were to call you a servant, how would you react? That’s a very valid consideration, because after reviewing all He did for us, 1 Peter 2:21 admonishes, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” Just as Jesus did not shy away from being a servant to us, part of our calling as His followers is to be servants for others.

When we hear the word “servant,” we typically think in negative terms. We come up with synonyms like “servitude,” “indentured servant,” or even “slavery.” We consider such a role demeaning, representing a lower station in life, whether it’s the downstairs servant staff many of us saw portrayed on the TV series, “Downton Abbey,” or the dutiful housekeeping staff at a hotel. Most of us dislike being treated as servants, whether at work or in our homes.

And yet, serving – and being a servant – is regarded as a noble office by many. Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to aiding the poor and dying in Calcutta, India, said, “Give of your hands to serve and your hearts to love.” Robert K. Greenleaf, author of the acclaimed book Servant Leadership, offered the view, “Good leaders must first become good servants.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often challenged his audiences to pursue lives of service, helping others. He observed, “Not everybody can be famous. But everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato or Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.” 

Without question, Jesus epitomized all of the above and much more. Which places an onus on each of us who professes to be among His followers. When we hear the word “Christlike,” we think in terms like being patient, peaceful and friendly. But humility and willingness to serve others are traits that lie at the heart of Christlikeness. 

The apostle Paul stated it this way: “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on Me’” (Romans 15:1-3).

So, whether in the classroom, the office, the neighborhood…or even on the tennis court, who can you serve today?

Finding Your ‘Sweet Spot’

Last week I was telling someone about how much I enjoy my job, that as a journalist every day I’m able to engage in a challenging and intriguing variety of writing projects, including books, magazine articles, website content, a weekly email workplace meditation, and blogs.

“Sounds like you’ve found your sweet spot,” he responded.

Finding your "sweet spot," whether
in tennis, golf - or life - can make
all the difference in how things turn out.

It’s been years since I played tennis, but the term sounded right. I knew when I hit the sweet spot on my racquet – which was infrequent – I had a good chance of having the ball go exactly where I intended. In a similar way, after decades of training, experience, success and failure, I believe God has taken my career exactly where He’s intended for it to go.

Sadly, not everyone can say the same. In fact, studies indicate more than half of all workers dislike or even dread their jobs. They show up each day because they need to pay the bills, not because they want to be there. “Work is a necessary evil,” the mantra informs us. For many people, that seems true, but it doesn’t have to be.

In The Heart of Mentoring, the book David Stoddard and I co-authored, we talk about aligning passion with work. What lights your inner fire? What pursuits infuse you with enthusiasm and energy? Or to borrow my new friend’s words, “What’s your sweet spot?”

Once you’ve identified that, you can try to match those things with your work in some way, either by redefining your job responsibilities or setting a goal of finding a new job that more closely relates to the things you’re most passionate about.

I understand in today’s uncertain economy, with limited employment options, that’s easier said than done. But I can’t think of many things more debilitating than having to pull yourself out of bed day after day and getting ready for a job you hate. Do you think Thomas Edison got up each morning and muttered, “Do I have to mess with light bulbs again”? Or Mother Teresa grumbled, “Another day of fussing with poor, dying people”? Or Michelangelo complained, “I don’t think I can stand painting another ceiling or sculpting another statue”?

They, and many others we could name, found their own “sweet spots.” Whether they recognized it or not, they had discovered God’s calling on their lives and pursued it with gusto, determination and passion.

Maybe you’re thinking, “But how do I find my sweet spot?” or “I know my sweet spot, but there’s no place for it where I work right now.” I can appreciate your frustration, even discouragement. There have been times in my career when I felt the same way.

However, I firmly believe God has a special, individualized plan for each of us – including the work we do. If we’re willing to include Him in this quest to link our passions with what we do for a livelihood, He’ll guide us in the right direction. After all, we have promises like these from the Scriptures:

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:4-5).

“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (Proverbs 16:3).

There you have it: Delight in the Lord, first and foremost, and commit your work to Him, seeking to honor Him through it. If you do that, He’ll do one of two things – direct you to a different job, more suited for what He designed you to do, or transform your attitude toward the job you have so you’ll start to regard it as a blessing rather than a curse.