It’s easy to lose sight of our primary calling as Christians in today’s mad-dash society. Daily obligations, complicated relationships, and high expectations have us struggling for balance and we may tend to block out the big picture. Real-world demands and stressors can muddy our vision to the point that we have trouble keeping our eyes on Jesus and the prize of eternity.

Remember in Genesis 3:7 when Adam and Eve suddenly realized they were naked? They became “patient zero” for the dreaded disease of selfishness and tried to hide themselves from God (3:8). Suddenly self-conscious, Adam’s act of willful disobedience created a need to hide, to escape, to flee from God’s presence. Adam was no longer authentic, no longer true to himself, no longer the person God had created him to be.

So began humanity’s ugly dance with selfishness, deceit, and the need for dominance. In the millennia since, as ancestors of Adam, we have inherited the contamination of sin… until God gave us His only Son (John 3:16).

Jesus was totally different. By His example, His words, His life, He taught us to regain our authenticity—to become the children of God that Adam and Eve were meant to be. We have a choice: we can continue Adam’s legacy of egotism and walk each day in confusion and chaos… OR we can look to Jesus and take His yoke, which is easy and light (Matthew 11:30), upon ourselves.

Like Jesus, we are called to be different. In his book Improving Your Serve, Charles Swindoll points to the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12) as “the most descriptive word-portrait of a servant ever recorded.” The Beatitudes identify each trait of true servanthood and a corresponding promise from God; Jesus clearly articulates the essence of servanthood and its rewards. By becoming self-LESS, we give His Spirit room to breathe into us and do His work through us.

God calls each of us to be our authentic selves. When we answer His call, Jesus equips us to walk in His footsteps without fear. Our Christian acts of service have the power to transform Adam’s legacy within us as we become Jesus’ salt and light. We CAN influence the world we live in if we focus on Jesus—one footstep at a time.

by RJ Flower-Opdycke, Co-editor

*This article was inspired by: Charles R. Swindoll, Improving Your Serve: The Art of Unselfish Living, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 1981.