We live in an incredibly selfish, self-centered, self-gratifying, self-promoting culture. In fact, if you look up “self-promotion” on Google, right on the first page, you will see article after article teaching you how to promote yourself.
 

One is called, “The Art of Self-Promotion: “6 Ways to Get Your Work Discovered.” Forbes wrote. One is called, “Self-promotion is a Skill.” Then there’s this one: “40 Ways to Self-Promote Without Being a Jerk.” Society tells us that if we want to succeed in this world, we must promote ourselves.
 

The problem is that if you want to follow Jesus in our self-promoting, self-centered, selfish-oriented culture, Jesus’ teaching is diametrically opposed to all of that. This is what Jesus said: If you want to follow Me, first you must deny yourself and pick up your cross. In other words, you must die to your own selfish nature and then, you follow Me. Jesus said, if you want to be great, you don’t self-promote. Instead, Jesus said, “the greatest among you will be your servant.”
 

Christ calls us, invites us, to be selfless, denying self and taking on the very nature of a servant. In other words, as Jesus followers, serving is not just something that we do. It reflects who we are. A servant is who we’re called to be at our very core.
 

We could say it this way: I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I serve others, I am serving Christ. Serving isn’t just what we do, a servant is who we are. And there is no better example of how we can be servants of Christ than Christ Himself.