Jesus Never Wore a Hat!

"Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28)

I learned an amazing lesson this week about serving Jesus Christ, beloved, from wearing a ball cap, if you can believe that! Many of you know that my wife, Bev, is a 10-year breast cancer survivor. And one of my greatest joys each year is to attend the annual "Relay for Life" survivors' banquet with her. Each year as we enter the building, we are given tee shirts and sometimes ball caps. The caps that I have (1 navy blue, 1 tan) have the "Relay for Life" logo embroidered on the front. I am proud to wear those caps whenever I can, letting everyone know that we support this wonderful charity and that I am so proud of my wife.

Just this past week, however, I noticed something about the "Relay for Life" cap that I had been wearing all day. As I walked into my room, I took off the hat and tossed it on the bed. As it landed, for the first time I became aware that something had been embroidered on the back of the hat as well. I saw there the single word "Caregiver." For as long as I have had those hats and for all the times that I have worn them, I never knew that I was delivering a message from the back as well as from the front! You see, the words on the front of the cap are all about Bev, the cancer survivor in our family, and her own personal "relay for life." Now I know that the single word on the back is meant to describe me as the one who loves and supports her. Yet I have never worn that hat because it identified me as a caregiver, but because it identifies my wife as a cancer survivor. I almost wish that they had never embroidered that word on the back!

If you study carefully the words of the Lord Jesus here, beloved, you will become quickly aware that He clearly never wore a "Relay for Life" hat! Nor am I being facetious when I say that either. You see, for Jesus it was all about the service He had come to render on behalf of sinful mankind. For Him it was always about saving us from our sins and never about drawing attention to what He had to suffer in order to accomplish that holy mission. I guess we might say that Jesus never wore a sign on His back that read, "Jesus of Nazareth, Savior of mankind." Or as I like to think of it, He never wore a hat!

The lesson that I learned from this momentary experience, beloved, is that it ought always to be about the ministry and never about the recognition. It ought to be about the need of the heart and life and never about the one sent as an instrument to meet that need. The records of heaven will focus upon what's written on the back at that moment when God recompenses the service of His people. Until then, let it be about the need before us and not about the name behind us! God bless you as you serve the King sacrificially just for the joy of serving.

Ron