Flowers Fade Friday: I am Last

Have you ever heard of the “I am Second” movement? You might have seen people wearing t-shirts. It’s a great campaign about putting Christ first in one’s life.

I am not here to question the “I am Second” campaign at all. However, I have been thinking lately about how the Bible does not actually tell us to put ourselves second. No. The Bible tells us to put ourselves last.

LAST.

No one wants to be last. Last hurts. Last feels defeating. Last can be uncomfortable. Last can be lonely.

However, this is the life that Jesus has called us to. He said to his disciples, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” {Mark 9:35}.

Last means a life of service. And the Bible gives us a specific order for whom we should serve and how. First and foremost, we are to love, serve and obey God. He should have the first of our affections, our devotion and our attention: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” {Deuteronomy 6:5}.

Secondly, we are called to love the church – the other Christians in our life – both those in our neighborhoods and those serving as missionaries far away. We are called to love other believers by mourning with them when they are hurt, encouraging them when they are downcast, celebrating with them when glad times come, convicting them when they are in sin, making meals for them when they are sick, helping them when they are in need, and enjoying life with them with a thankful, joyful heart {Romans 12 //1 Peter 4}.

Next, we are called to love non-believers. We are called to help them when they are in trouble and meet their physical needs by providing food, shelter, or clothing if necessary. We are called to love them with the words of the Gospel – words of truth and hope. We are called to spend time with them and show them that a life with Christ is a life of freedom, contentment and joy {1 John 3:18 // Romans 10:15 // Matthew 25}.

Finally, we are called to love ourselves. Yes, we are to love ourselves because we are God’s beloved.  Remember, he tells us that husbands should love their wives MORE than they love themselves {Ephesians 5:28-30}. God knows that we love ourselves. It is not bad. It just needs to be kept in check. We are to love ourselves last.

My sinful nature struggles to love self last. If not for the Holy Spirit and the words of Scripture to keep me in line, I would always meet my own needs, fulfill my own desires, and seek my own comfort before giving a thought to anyone else, including God. Others – God, my Christian friends, and the non-believers in my life – would always get the leftovers. They would get anything that trickled down out of my self-love. Maybe a meal here. A kind word there. A prayer every once in a while. They would not get much.

But instead, I must strive to be last. I must deny myself. I must constantly seek God’s will and the good of others before I attend to my own needs and wants.

This sounds pretty brutal, right? And it sounds tiring. But then I look to life of Christ and I am sure of three things:

1} I must always put others before myself. Jesus was constantly pushing his own agenda aside to heal the sick and the blind, teach the disciples when their faith faltered, and speak truth to the Pharisees who hunted him down to test and batter him with their hardness of heart. I struggle daily to surrender my own agenda to the needs of those around me. {See Mark 10 for a few great examples of Jesus surrendering his day to other people.}

2} I can be filled up with overflowing love for God and others by returning to the Lord for strength. How many times in the Bible does Jesus rise early before a long day of traveling, preaching and healing to commune with God and seek His will {Mark 1:35}? How many times does He pray through the night for strength and guidance {Mark 6:46}? If I am not resting in and praying to the Lord, I will have no strength for the last place life he has called me to.

3} The Christian life IS tiring. Of course, there will times of joy and relaxation, and I do believe Christians should honor the Sabbath – a day of rest. But overall, our life is not about rest. Heaven is our rest. Heaven is the great Sabbath after a life well fought. This is why the Bible constantly refers to the Christian life as a battle, fight or race. A Christian life needs endurance. You don’t need endurance for a sprint. You need endurance for a marathon, and the Christian life, the life that puts self last and serves other first, is a marathon. We need strength, determination, and persistence to serve others first, and this endurance can only be found in Jesus Christ. Like Paul, at the end of my life, I hope, by God’s grace, to say: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” {2 Timothy 4:7}.