“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when He comes. Truly I tell you, He will dress Himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.” Luke 12:37
It had been a busy and hectic week! And for Katie, Saturday was not going to slow down. As she headed out for an all day event, I began to think about what we might do for dinner. It had been a while since we had stayed at home and eaten a pile of ‘peel and eat’ shrimp. So when she got home, I floated the idea past her and she liked it. When I told her I WASN’T getting the Old Bay seasoning on it because ‘I’ didn’t really like it, she quietly said, ‘oh…ok!’ Immediately, my mental Husband meter screamed out an alarm!
When we first met I took her out for dinner and persuaded her to try Oysters on the Half Shell. That means ‘RAW! She feigned pleasing discovery for a while, but after we were married, finally admitted she really didn’t care for them. Having, for YEARS, eaten Old Bay flavor cooked shrimp because SHE likes it…I finally admitted that I didn’t. Then THIS Bible verse hit me in my conviction bone.
What to DO?? I CERTAINLY didn’t want to be selfish and NOT get my wife what she likes. But it was not ‘in me’ that night to pretend to like something I really didn’t. It was then that a crazy idea hit me…so simple, and yet so profound! Why not please BOTH of us? Since shrimp was on sale, I ordered 2 pounds of the stuff…with 1 pound cooked in Old Bay seasoning! She was happy…and so was I!
The scene of the Bible verse today is The Return of Christ for His Bride at the end of the age. HE IS RULER AND KING! The One to be worshiped and adored. And yet it says that HE will ‘dress Himself to SERVE!’ And the one He SERVES will be His Bride! THAT’S YOU AND ME…The Church! It only stands to reason that in His position, and being All powerful, He can and ‘WILL DO WHAT HE PLEASES,’ (Psalm 115:3). It is OBVIOUS to ME that serving His Bride PLEASES HIM!
I know it SOOO well! And yet my fleshy ‘man brain’ seems SO quick to forget, far too often. Pleasing my wife…pleases ME! It is a sense that cannot be described or recreated in human arenas. But it IS a FACT! When my wife is honored and pleased with me, I feel like I have hit my destiny! And NO explanation is needed!
Jesus WILL SERVE ME! It is a thought that is so embarrassing that I can hardly wrap my heart around it. I want to scream, “NO NO Lord!!! It is I who should be serving YOU!” It is ALSO a thought that could EASILY be construed as prideful humility! But then I heard Him respond in His silent, but still small voice, “If you WANT to serve me, then serve me by loving YOUR Wife!” Now how can I pass up an opportunity like THAT? ‘Old Bay Honey?’
Who is Jesus calling YOU to serve? If you’ve a significant other…you already know!
