3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus... According to 1st Corinthians, we have the mind of Christ, if we have accepted Him...but we do have to choose to access it. And, when we do, we recognize that we are not living for ourselves, but we are living for His glory. We realize that we are called to walk in love, and to esteem others about ourselves. And, the daily struggle is between flesh and spirit, selfishness and selflessness, the ways of this world vs. the ways of God - and His ways are predicated on having a servant's heart - just as Jesus gave Himself, so we die to self and live to Him.
Jesus gave some great perspective on servanthood in Mark chapter 10, picking up in verse 43:
43b...whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
When you look at the medal count for the United States Olympic team, you see there is a 4-man relay team that won a gold medal in swimming. And, when you look of the name of Christian athlete Charlie Houchin, he is credited with that medal, but he is not listed as a member of the winning team. So, what gives? Charlie is a team member and he did swim in the preliminaries, but not the final - I guess that's similar to a football player who plays in the playoff games, but doesn't get into the lineup in the Super Bowl...he still gets the championship ring.
So, even though he didn't quite get the credit, Charlie was an essential component of the gold medal team.
And, his faith shapes the way he does everything, according to the Athletes in Action website. He is quoted as saying:
“I like to think I carry a quiet confidence into the water because of my relationship with Christ. In athletics, where emotions can run high, low and everywhere in between and performance is everything, I think understanding your relationship with Christ keeps everything on an even keel and gives perspective about what’s important,” he says. “Swimming is everything in a lot of ways, but it pales in comparison to things like a relationship with Christ and doing what is important in terms of eternal life.”Charlie has partnered with one of his former swim coaches, John Payne, in a new venture to encourage athletes to keep the same faith perspective. They have formed [iX3]Sports as an encouragement to the entire sports world, not just swimmers. He says, "The name includes the lower case I for the individual athletes, the x is the cross and the 3 is the Trinity...[iX3] is about approaching swimming or whatever sport with a faith basis, where your primarily objective of your performance is to put Christ first and your faith up front and everything else below that.”
We talked about humility yesterday, as we adopt the attitude of Christ increasing in our lives and us decreasing. And, when you have a servant's heart, in some cases, you will become invisible, faithfully laboring, doing God's will, so that His plans might be fulfilled. Often, we will not get the credit, but that does not lessen the importance of our efforts. Charlie Houchin wasn't one of the final 4 swimmers, didn't get his name up in lights, but his contribution can't be underestimated. Do not think yourself insignificant if God has placed you under the radar or behind the scenes...have that servant's heart and allow Him to use you.
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