"Gonna have to serve somebody"

The other day, I was listening to "Gotta Serve Somebody", a classic written and preformed by Bob Dylan. The song is obviously spiritual, but I had never taken anything from it, to heart. Other than the fact that it was about God, the Devil, and that we probably "have'ta" serve one of those deities, eventually. On a separate occasion, recently I read, at some church form/christian related outlet, (I'm pretty sure it came up in another blog) the verse, "Choose today who you will serve.... As for me and my house, we will serve the lord." (Joshua 24:15)

 What grabbed my attention from this verse was the fact that it says the word serve, just like in the song. Naturally, I disregarded the rest of the article because I was too busy thinking what it would sound like if Bob Dylan did a bible book-on-tape, and how much my bible time would increase if Bob Dylan were reading it to me. Then, I didn't come back to the thought of serving someone until today at lunch, when someone quoted Jesus by saying, "you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." (Mark 8:33) That's when I realized how the question of serving somebody is very applicable to me, everyday.

The reason I would dismiss the song/verses about serving somebody was because "I'm a Christian. I've already decided who I'm going to serve." But now I think that both Bob Dylan, and Jesus, had a much deeper meaning to "serving somebody" then just a one time life decision to "become a Christian" or not. 

We serve somebody everyday, with everything we do.  Life choices big and small, never escape the realm of us preforming a service to someone. Whether we are running errands, at work, relaxing with friends, at church, or anything else in between, we are doing something for someone. That someone, could be anyone! Often times I find that "Somebody" that i'm serving, to be myself. I might not ever do this consciously, even less often with malicious intent, but when I examine myself, I find that I do focus on my interests, almost always. I'm always thinking, "What will make me happy?", "What's in it for me?" or "How will I end up on top?" What I should be thinking is "How will this benefit others/God?" 

Jesus says that that "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:13) Whether you are a christian or not, we can all see the wisdom in Jesus' words here. I personally think he was talking not just about dying for your friends, but living for them. Daily putting other people's/God's interests above our own. Daily serving somebody. Difficult? certainly. But to quote the great Nick Lidstrom "It wont be easy, but nothings that's worth while ever is."