Kaleb Heitzman

You’re nothing more than dirt that God in his infinite mercy and grace decided to breathe life into. Sounds harsh but I’m being serious. Now that’s a literal interpretation of Genesis but that aside where does the word humble come from?

The word humble happens to come from the same word that human does and that word is humus. Humus is the organic compound of dirt, or if your a soil activist, I’ll use the word soil as not to offend you.  If you can see the relations,  the word humble comes from the word dirt/dust. So why does any of this matter?

It’s humbling and it’s humiliating (another hum word) to know that we are nothing more than dust without God breathing into us. It illustrates our position to God and others.

A humble servant is someone who serves others from the posture of, “I’m nothing more than dirt unless God breathes life into me.” You really can’t lower yourself any further than dirt and if you choose to recognize your origins in the dust of this world it’s easy to understand God is in control and that you’re no better than anyone else.

Apply this to servanthood and you understand your place beneath God and alongside others.

Strangers scare me. The idea of being hospitable to a stranger scares me even more. What if they decide to assault me or something? What if they decide to take advantage of my kindness? These fears are rooted in a lack of love because perfect love drives out all fear.

Hospitality is the act of offering warmth to someone. Hospitality is about meeting needs and offering kindness. Being cordial is not the same thing as being hospitable.  We often tie hospitality to our homes but it goes beyond that. Look at Matthew 10 for an example of hospitality.

Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me. If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.

There are plenty of other examples of hospitality in scripture but imagine this: What if when we were interacting with others, it were like interacting with Jesus? What if when we bought someone a drink, or brought someone clothes, it was like bringing Jesus a drink or bringing Jesus clothes? What if when we are hospitable to people we’re actually being hospitable to Jesus?

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

You see, when we are hospitable to others we are actually being hospitable to Jesus. 

Have you ever become frustrated with the waiter who messed your order up? When we show up to restaurants we expect to be served. What if we flipped that mentality on it’s head. What if when we showed up to a restaurant we expected ourselves to serve the waiter/waitress instead? But that’s not how it’s supposed to be right?

Being a servant isn’t about position or title. It’s about how we position our hearts towards others. Anyone can get frustrated with a waiter who messes up a food order. What if we responded with service instead? What if we served the waiter with immediate forgiveness or immediate affirmation that it’s not a big issue instead of frustration? You’d be bordering what it means to be a good servant.

Christ didn’t come to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28). But that’s not how it’s supposed to be right? How many of us lead lives like this?

There’s a lot of buzz on the internet in Christian circles about what it means to be man. I’m not going to get into any specifics but let me say this first: It has nothing to do with machismo.  Machismo is the spanish word that means prominently exhibited or excessive masculinity. If you are flaunting your manhood you’re probably not a real man. Think of it in terms of advertising.

Have you ever seen an advertisement for an Aston Martin, a very expensive line of British cars? Probably not because the car sells itself. Have you ever seen an advertisement for a Toyota Corolla? Absolutely. Cheapened things in today’s economy need advertisement in order to sell. The Aston Martin sells itself because of it’s superior quality. An Aston Martin Vanquish at the base price of $180,000 will cost you everything. You’d have to give up everything to afford it.

To be a real man you will have to give up everything to get it. You can’t go for a cheapened Corolla, add some spoilers and ground effects and come out with a car superior to an Aston Martin. It’s what’s under the hood, what you can’t see, that counts. Real manhood beats machismo every time. So what does biblical manhood actually look like?

Let’s start with a reframing statement: Biblical manhood is a posture of the heart. It’s not something you put on display.

Biblical manhood is about a posture of gentleness. Jesus never tried to overpower people.  He always spoke truth from God but never forced it on anyone or attempted to make them feel bad. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, not a man’s.

Being a man means putting yourself last. In a society dominated with making it to the top, men often trample over other men and even women to make it to the top. Jesus consistently put himself last even though he is the God of the universe. Jesus chose to be trampled rather than trample. 

Married men, being a spiritual leader to your wife looks a lot like serving her. Jesus exemplified what leadership is by serving the disciples. Scripture says he emptied himself of being God and took on the nature of a servant. Even though Jesus was over the disciples, he showed them what true leadership was by serving them.

If you are going to be man in the way of Jesus, be a servant of your wife. I’m going to go out on a limb here (one I don’t believe is true) but if a wife is to be in the kitchen, go and help her cook. If it’s a wife’s role to keep a clean house, leave her with nothing to clean. That will create an unending reciprocal nature of service. It’s what Jesus modeled to the disciples.

Jesus never had to flaunt that he was the Leader. Jesus never had to flaunt that he was God. Jesus flaunted servanthood and stewardship. People knew Jesus was Christ by they way he lived his life.

Men, you don’t need to flaunt your manhood. Prove you’re a man by your ability to serve others, even your enemies, especially your wife, but not by the ability to display your machismo.