Humility

Mark 9:35 tell us: "He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”
OK lets set the scene: Jesus overheard part of a conversation between some of his disciples, a conversation that was centered upon who was the most important among them, they realized Jesus was the MOST important,but who was His Assistant sorta. Wow, sounds like pride to me. I mean this is what got Satan kicked out of Heaven. How did Jesus respond? Read the above scripture again, go ahead, I'll wait. ..........There it is, to be first, we must be last.......to be great we must be small, to be powerful we must be powerless, what in the world does that mean? This is opposite of everything we have been told our whole lives. Reminds me of a "Seinfeld" episode where George decides to do everything opposite of what he normally would do, and it works out GREAT for him, he gets a job with the NY Yankees, he gets a girlfriend, everything is wonderful.
You see, to achieve anything in God's World,(the spiritual world) then there has to be a attitude of service, humility, kindness.
Jesus washed others feet in preparation of a meal, a service usually done by servants. He put himself in the position of a servant, just because He wanted to, to wash his friends feet.
Thank of the best boss you ever had. What made them so good of a leader? My best boss was a man who had no problems rolling up his sleeves when we got really busy and helping me do my job. He did not have a problem serving instead of ordering. He would get his hands dirty and help just as if he were someone, well like us, the workers. If it was slow, sure he would be in his office doing, well boss stuff. If someone was out one day, he would fill in wherever he was needed, he was not "above" any job there. This is the kind of boss you respect, you WANT to work for, you look up to, you know he has "your back". Then there is the "other" kind of boss, the kind who only sits at his desk, who doesn't help EVER, I mean He is the BOSS, why should HE, stoop as LOW as us the workers? He just yells at us from the sidelines and "cracks the whip". Do you want to work for someone like this? Of course not, you look for a different job before long, because this job "Stinks".
Humble: " not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive." The definition of a Good boss described above is this, "Humility"
Now let's look at Mark 9:33 again: ............"Whoever wants to be first, must be last, and the servant of everyone else." I believe this qualifies as "Humble" by the above definition. "Servant of everyone else". Does that mean we cannot be the leader? No, servants make the best leaders. Does that mean we are not worth anything, because we serve others, thereby showing how important they are? No, by humbling ourselves we take on power, through Caring, loving, concerning ourselves with their needs. What is the best way to stop an argument? By agreeing with the other party. If it something you totally disagree with, the statement : " I respect your opinion, but don't necessarily agree with it." This may stop the anger, and start the discussion, "Let's look at the facts, without the emotion involved" That calms everyone, almost , down.

Who should get the most credit at a fancy dinner party? The cooks, the waiters, the ones who clean up.....in other words the ones that do all the work without credit. Who usually gets the credit at a event like this? The Hosts, the ones who hired all the good workers.
Jesus is telling us to be worthy of anything, we must have the heart and mind of a servant. It is a matter of Pride. If your to proud to say, wash a toilet, then how can I trust you to do anything important? When I was in the Navy years ago, I asked my "CC" (company commander) upon completion of Boot Camp: " What was with all the folding clothes, and presentation of uniforms in the lockers, all about?" (We had a complete set of uniforms that was for nothing else but to be folded EXACTLY correct and presented in our lockers like they were a very expensive piece of art, or something, we would be inspected on these presentations almost every week.) You know what my CC told me? That the Navy wanted to know if you could follow directions for a 10 dollar pair of pants, before they let you work on a multi-million dollar piece of equipment. That made total sense to me.
How are you going to lead people that you will not serve? How are you going to tell those you lead how to do something you have never done yourself? Every enlisted person I ever knew in the Navy, was once a Seaman Recruit at a Boot Camp somewhere and washed toilets, folded uniforms, made their bed exactly per regulation, waxed floors, painted, marched, shot firearms, saluted and called officers "Sir".......So when a more experienced enlisted guy told me the proper way to wax a floor, I listened, because I knew he had done it. In the service there is a term for an officer who had spent time as an enlisted person. The term is "Mustang" My dad was a Mustang in the Marines. The respect shown to these "Mustangs" is much higher then a "normal" officer, because we understood that these officers had "been right were we are" and understood us.
How can you lead without serving? You can't. I think every President of the US should have to wash the bathrooms of their staff once a week while in office. I think every CEO of EVERY Large cooperation should as well. There is something humbling about getting on your knees and washing a toilet, that is humbling.
To be a "Servant to everyone" is to care for everyone. If you don't respect someone, your not going to clean their home, because you could care less. To truly understand someone, get down where they live and wash their dishes, clean their bathroom, BE a SERVANT to them. They will respect you for it, and you will come away with a deeper understanding and respect for them.
Now, go wash your toilet, it is filthy.