The Life Hack of Christian Discipleship: Learning to Serve Like Jesus
What if there was a simple yet powerful way to accelerate your spiritual growth? A “life hack” that could transform your Christian walk from ordinary to extraordinary? The answer lies in one word: serving.
What Is True Discipleship?
Many Christians view discipleship like earning Boy Scout merit badges – check the right boxes, say the right things, learn enough verses, and eventually you’ll earn some kind of spiritual badge. But discipleship isn’t a badge you earn; it’s a process that begins the moment you give your life to Christ.
True discipleship is that daily process of going to Jesus and allowing Him to change what’s inside of us to more accurately mirror Him. We were created in His image, marred by sin, and He has come to restore that image within us.
Why Serving Is the Ultimate Discipleship Life Hack
This Christian life hack is simple but costly: serving others with love and purpose. Being Christlike means humbling yourself to be like Christ. When you put yourself in that position to serve others – that humble position – that’s where God can start His process in you.
God doesn’t start His process in a proud person. One must humble themselves first and place themselves into a posture where they can serve. It’s in that position of a humble spirit that God starts exposing things in your life that need to change – things like pride, impatience, and selfishness.
What Does the Bible Say About Love in Action?
First John 3:18 provides a crucial truth: “Dear children, let’s not say that we love each other. Let us show the truth by our actions.” This verse is a call to action for any disciple of Christ. You cannot be a disciple if you do not have a heart for service.
Anyone can smile, wave, or act spiritual for an hour on Sunday. But to truly love someone sacrificially and serve them – that’s the mark of a true disciple. Real love isn’t measured by what comes out of your mouth; it’s measured by what you do with your life.
Jesus’ Ultimate Example of Humble Service
The clearest picture of God’s love in action is found in John 13, where Jesus washes His disciples’ feet. The night before Christ would bear the sins of the world, He spent time teaching His disciples one of His final and most important lessons by demonstrating it.
Picture the scene: Jesus knew His hour had come. He knew the cross was less than 24 hours away. He knew Judas would betray Him. Yet in the middle of all that, He took the lowest position in the room – the position usually reserved for a servant or slave – and washed dirty, stinky feet.
The King of Kings Took the Lowest Position
The Creator of the universe took the most humble spot and did the task no one else wanted to do. He didn’t send someone else or hire someone. He served personally, one disciple at a time, one foot at a time.
When Jesus is willing to take the lowest position and wash dirty feet, He’s demonstrating that greatness is not measured by your status or how many people serve you. Greatness is determined by whether you will serve humbly with love and compassion.
The Command to Follow His Example
After washing their feet, Jesus didn’t say, “Now do whatever you want.” He gave a clear command: “Since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”
There’s no wiggle room here. If the Son of God can take the lowest spot in the room, then Christians have no right to look at any act of service and say it’s beneath them. Jesus says the blessing is not in knowing but in doing.
How Does Serving Change Us?
Serving is not optional ministry for a select few with special gifts. Serving is the normal life of a disciple. From Christ’s perspective, if you are not actively serving somewhere for Him, you’re failing as a disciple.
When you serve like Christ – going all in and saying “God, humble me, make me your servant” – it changes you. This is why serving is part of the discipleship process:
- The act of service assassinates pride
- It exposes selfishness
- It teaches patience
- It stretches your mercy muscles
- It forces you to stop thinking like the world and start thinking like Christ
What About Sin and Holiness?
Jesus’ foot washing also teaches us about spiritual cleansing. As we walk through this dirty, filthy world corrupted by sin, we accumulate spiritual dirt. Jesus told Peter, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”
When you come to Christ and are saved, He washes those sins away completely. But as you continue walking through life, you’re going to make mistakes and fail. You need the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit and fellow believers to point out your dirt so Christ can clean it away.
A Disciple Hates Sin and Pursues Holiness
Loving Jesus means you don’t hold onto the things He came to wash away. You can’t love Jesus and love sin. If we love Christ, we will love what He loves and hate what He hates. God hates sin because it destroys lives and defies His holiness.
As we mature in Christ, our tolerance for sin should shrink, not grow. We should hate what sin does to our marriages, our minds, our integrity, and our joy.
How Do We Serve Others with Love and Truth?
Some people think love means never confronting or challenging anything. But Jesus didn’t wash feet because He was soft on sin – He washed feet because He was committed to obliterating it.
We serve others by loving them enough to point out the dirt and help them get it cleaned up. Sometimes the most loving service you can do is have a hard conversation, give a loving warning, set a clear boundary, or call someone to repentance.
What Does Practical Service Look Like?
Serving like Jesus is bigger than volunteering at church programs. It’s a 24/7 way of life that should follow you home from Sunday and stick with you all week.
Practical service can look like:
- Shoveling someone’s driveway before sunrise
- Making a meal for a grieving family
- Helping someone move
- Giving rides to appointments
- Watching kids so parents can have a date
- Simply listening when someone is hurting
People don’t need more words about Jesus – they need to see the love of Jesus in action. Serving softens hearts, opens doors, earns trust, and creates moments where the Gospel can be heard.
What Should Motivate Our Service?
People can serve for wrong reasons – to be noticed, feel important, alleviate guilt, or collect favors. But Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:14 that “Christ’s love controls us.”
When Jesus saves you, your life is no longer about your comfort, preferences, or schedule. Christ’s love grips you and changes what you live for. When Christ’s love is at the center of your serving motivation, serving stops being a burden and becomes worship.
Life Application
God is still looking for disciples who will say yes to His call to serve. He doesn’t want spectators or critics – He wants people who will get busy serving. He’s looking for men and women who will be clean, available, and obedient.
This week, challenge yourself to actively look for opportunities to serve others in Jesus’ name. Start with your family, then extend to your neighbors, church, and community. Remember, sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is simply humble yourself and meet the need in front of you.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Is there sin in my life that I’ve been tolerating or excusing that God is calling me to repent of?
- Where is God calling me to serve that I’ve been resisting?
- Am I willing to take the lowest position in the room to serve others as Jesus did?
- What practical need can I meet this week in someone’s life?
Don’t just talk about love and service – live it out loud. Humble yourself to meet the needs of others, serve your family well, love your neighbors, and be willing to speak hard truths when needed. This is the path of true discipleship.