Servant-Hood: The Way To Happiness

I was just listening to a sermon and was reminded of a saying coined by Ken Collier, director of the Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center in Brevard, NC: "He who dies with the dirtiest towel wins." This saying is in opposition to that on bumper stickers, "He who dies with the most toys wins." More importantly, it is a rephrasing of the Lord Jesus' example of servant-hood given in John 13:4-17. The Last Supper just being ended, Jesus rises from the table, girds Himself with a towel, takes a basin of water and washes the disciples' feet--the job of the lowliest kind of servant in that day. Having ended the task and having sat back down He instructs the disciples to wash one another's feet, as, "The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him" (John 13:16). He then ends his talk with the saying, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (v. 17).

In our self-seeking, self-indulging world servant-hood is nearly a lost art. And yet it is the very thing our Lord and Master says will bring us happiness--the one thing we all are seeking. Since self-seeking is the exact opposite of serving, and since we are doing so much self-seeking, it is no wonder we are by and large unhappy, unsatisfied and discontent. The answer to our problem is not more seeking after happiness, but more serving. It has been said that happiness is not something you find by seeking for it, but something that finds you when you are doing right. So, seek to serve, and happy will you be when you do it.