Last year, Robbie Ray was one of the pitchers for the Toronto Blue Jays. He had a prolific year and won the Cy Young award. 

He spoke about becoming a Christian and how that turned his life around. He went from being self-centred to others-centred. What changed? “Having a servant mentality of, ‘How I can best serve my team every single day?’” he says. “That kind of mindset for me was huge. It was putting myself to the side and saying, ‘What can I do to help the team today?’”

Let’s not miss who he’s emulating—Jesus! The one who “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

Why am I talking about baseball when it’s winter? Because the approach of Christmas should remind us to have a servant mentality. If the King of kings comes as a servant, we are wise to step in line and imitate the King we claim to serve.

We serve by putting others first, by giving, by sharing, and by helping. 

On the day after Christmas will you be able to look back on your December and feel good about how you celebrated the birth of the Servant King?

In the words of Robbie Ray, “What can I do to help the team today?”

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Notes:

–“Nurturing friendships with others Christians—and with Jesus – a talk with John Vissers.” That’s the name of the podcast. You might want to grab a tea or coffee for this one. I really enjoyed John’s sincere and insightful perspective. You can subscribe to ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ on iTunes (Apple Podcasts), Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or TuneIn, or you can simply listen in here.

–*The interview can be read on SportsNet here.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.