Listen to today’s devo!

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

Several years ago, my church hosted a one-day marriage conference that featured a well-known couple as the keynote speakers. I was single at the time, but I was a devout student of marriage and wanted the opportunity to sit under their teaching, even though I didn’t have a husband. So I signed up and sat in the audience, scribbling notes throughout every session.

The number one piece of advice I learned that day was that if both people in a marriage strive to live as servants, they’ll give and receive the best blessings. If either one stops serving and strives only to receive, the blessing chain is broken.

It’s not a lesson I’ve heard taught in most marriage seminars, but now as a married woman, it’s something I strive to live daily. My husband does the same, and we’ve found the advice really does work!

The lessons Jesus taught in his earthly ministry didn’t match the lessons other teachers offered. He lived against the grain of popular methods. He spent most of his time trying to get those around him to unlearn false teaching to make room for the truth he offered. And he asked those who followed him to live according to the example he set forth—because it worked! He asks the same of us today. Live a life of service, contrary to the world, but just like Jesus.

Imitate the greatest servant of all by being servants too.

Bekah Shaffer is an alumna of Indiana Wesleyan University and enjoys endless coffee, scrapbooking, and adventuring with her husband, Ryan.

© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.