CDPunt(igam) Writes

I once asked for a dog. I thought I knew what I was asking for. My parents were skeptical, but they agreed. For my tenth birthday, they got me a dog. It was a sweet old lady that loved to run zoomies in the yard. But I hadn’t thought about how much I dislike picking up after a dog or how often they need to eat or how much they drink in a day. I was thinking about all the fun we would have playing catch. Turns out that as much as that dog loved me, she loved my dad even more. He ended up feeding her, watering her, taking her out for walks, he even picked up after her. He was her favorite human. I guess there’s something about being willing to care for dogs that I didn’t know until I lived it. They don’t love the one that loves them most, they love the one that serves them best.

This story is based on Mark 10: 35-45

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

NIV: New International Version