Matthew 23:11

"But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant."

Verses from the Bible like this, and especially words from Jesus like this, are constant reminders to me that my Christian faith is completely paradoxical to my human nature and that it's juxtaposed at almost every turn of thought. To be great you must be "small"? To live you must die? (cf. John 12:24-26) The first shall be last and the last shall be first? (cf. Matthew 19:30) The wise are fools and the fools are wise? (cf. I Corinthians 3:18-19) Salvation is by grace and not by works? (cf. Ephesians 2:8-9) The examples are almost countless. What is this? It's faith, that's what it is. (cf. II Corinthians 5:7) How else could anyone "in their right mind" believe such oddities? It's almost impossible for me to get my head around these hard truths. And I'm not alone, for even the disciples and others who walked with Jesus struggled with these things ("How can these things be?" - Nicodemas, John 3:9b)

The world is my bellwether and should serve as a siren to my heart. I'm asking God to alert me today so that when I see, when I feel and when I think something that comes in my pathway resonates with my nature, that I wake up and consider that there's a good chance it doesn't resonate with God's. So, maybe today I will serve when I think that my station in life entitles me to be served.