Changing the Way We Think

March 1, 2016

Changing the Way We Think

But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.

Matthew 20:26-27

Jesus’ teaching follows his refereeing a riff among his disciples that arose after the mother of James and John had appealed to Jesus to grant special favor to her sons. Late last year, when the Pope visited the USA, he modeled Jesus’ teaching. Although the Pope is honored with much pomp and circumstance wherever he goes, he sought out opportunities to serve the least of his followers. Regrettably, the Pope’s example is lost on most of the powerful in our society. Many of our politicians, professional athletes, and celebrities are favored with varying expressions of pomp, and many of them act as though they are so entitled, often showing little or no regard to the working class citizens.

We will soon be in Holy Week, which is marked in many churches with a congregational foot-washing on Maundy Thursday. While this is a commendable expression of Jesus’ teaching in John 13:14, often such expressions of humility and servanthood are restricted to one Thursday night per year. As we journey through this season of Lent, we all will do well to consider how we can shape our lives to reflect Jesus’ teaching, not once a year during Holy Week, but 24/7, every day. The Apostle Paul said we are transformed by changing the way we think. (Romans 12:2) I have found meditating on this verse to be very helpful in changing the way I have been conditioned by our culture to think:

“Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself”

Philippians 2:3 NET

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.