Yesterday I saw a short, inspiring North Face video on YouTube that featured Enock Glidden, a paraplegic man who climbed El Capitan in Yosemite. My second cousin, Christian Cattell, was one of several volunteers who helped him. Christian made a noteworthy statement during an interview. He said, “It felt good to work so hard for someone else.” That’s so true. Imagine what this world would be like if we all had that attitude.
Hudson Taylor, the pioneering missionary to China, who God used in a powerful way to start 125 schools and directly save over 18,000 people despite great opposition, shared a similar outlook as penned in a poem by Charles Meigs. I am reminded of it often.
“Others, Lord, yes others. Let this my motto be, Help me to live for others, That I may live like Thee.”
Truly this self-sacrifice comes from Jesus–God the Son. Jesus modeled it and he empowers anyone who follows him to do the same. Before the foundation of the world he planned with God the Father and God the Spirit that he would become a man and lay down his life to save others (1 Peter 1:20). Despite pain, rejection, betrayal, and abandonment he fulfilled this plan for the sake of others. In Hebrews 12:2-4 it says, “For the joy set before him he [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” That’s how God works. He uses humble, obedient people who depend on him to have a great impact on others—to save them. In the process, despite the hardship, he blesses and exalts his servants.
God reminds us of the servant life we should live with two commands which Jesus affirmed while on earth, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second [commandment] is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).
It’s not necessarily easy, but it’s the right thing to do. Fortunately we are not alone to try to work it out by striving. God enables us to joyfully serve him and others as we rest and walk with him. That’s my desire. What about you?