10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
We often ask what is the most important qualification for a leader? We must not bypass that quality which so completely characterized the life of Jesus Christ, the quality of unselfish servanthood. Jesus said,
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45)
The apostle Paul added to this focus when he wrote,
“Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but the interests of others as well” (Phil. 1:4).
But then pointing to the Savior as our great example, he quickly added,
“You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had.” (Paul then followed this exhortation with a strong reminder of the humiliation of Christ) who, though being God, emptied himself by taking the form of a slave. There is no question that if we as Christians are going to grow and mature into Christ-like character, we must experience progress in giving of ourselves in ministry to and for others. While we can and should find comfort and encouragement in Christ (Phil. 2:1), that comfort should propel us into servant-hood of the Savior and one another. Servant living stands opposed to the primary concerns of people we see today where the focus of our culture and society is more on our own personal happiness and comfort.
