by Chimuanya Obubua
Self is ever demanding. It never makes sacrifices. Self gratification and indulgence will lead to spiritual extinction. Self will never see the need to pray or intercede. It does not like to fast. Self will tell you, ‘you are giving God too much of your time and possession’ while, actually, God requests all from us. Self will be the last to approve of sacrifice to God and to humanity.
Service that is truly selfless is a rare commodity and is not easy to achieve. It may be said that wide and smooth is the road of selfish service. Many clamour there. Narrow and rough is the road of selfless service and few thread there. It can hurt and it does hurt to give selfless service. Have you ever considered that in other to give light a candle must burn in the process? Mother Theresa, Nobel peace prize winner, enjoins those who mean to serve to do so “until it hurts.”
All the above notwithstanding, such service as we render selflessly has its rewards. It has rewards in the joy it gives and in the sense of personal fulfillment it generates. Its loftiest reward lies in the satisfaction of serving selflessly. Undoubtedly, the lives of those ‘who-so-serve’ are richer for it. Service which is instigated by the thoughtfulness of others and dedicated to the good of others is rewarding, not only to the recipients, but to those who serve.
The world around us seems to negate these ideals. God’s kingdom has a radical new pattern of leadership which is servant-hood. In other to reinforce this, Jesus asked “who is greater, the one who is at the table or he who serves?” in his earthly life, Jesus assumed the role of a servant. He washed the feet of his disciples. ”for the son of man did not come to be served but to serve….” Christ-like leadership style is needed in both the church and in the society. Such would require purity of heart, passion for people, power to serve through prayers, a pioneering spirit, practical wisdom to solve problems and perseverance. Christ like leadership will be humble.
There are, however sparingly, men and women who have refused to look on in helpless despondency at the widespread elevation of self above service. “To give real service” Donald Adams wrote “you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money and that is sincerity and integrity.” Those we want to serve need gifts, but they need more than gifts. They need the giver. It is not difficult to give away what we do not need. It is more difficult to share with others what we also need. “A bone to the dog is not charity, charity is bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog.”
The bane of our contemporary Nigerian society is service that is chracterised by pervasive egocentricity and dearth of altruism. In the political arena, personal interest supersedes national interests. Indeed a cursory look at our socio-economic quagmire leads to a temptation to conclude that “the beautiful ones are not yet born.” All who aspire to leadership at any level should be seen to accept that, according to Henry Van Dyke, “there is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world, it is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.”
Until and unless the ideal of “service above self” commends itself to wider acceptance, our progression will continue to amount to much motion but no movement.
