Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Underappreciated? | New Testament | Mark 10

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Maybe you're a mom of littles. Maybe you work a thankless job. Maybe you do the unseen labor. Today's episode offers hope for those who feel unappreciated. Join as Jensen shares encouragement from Mark 10. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Mark 10

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Every so often, my husband and I do these big life check-ins with each other. He's a resident doctor, and so time to talk alone together, especially with two little kids, is hard to come by. But still, we try to check in on how the other is doing as often as we can. It's like a state of the union, but for our lives. The last one we had was not one of my prouder moments.

Feeling run down and overwhelmed by the addition of a second kid to the family, I lamented to Sam about how difficult and frustrating my life's circumstances were. It went a little bit like this. All day, I take care of two little people who never acknowledge what I do, never say thank you unless I tell them to. I wipe noses and change diapers and clean vomit off my shirt, the couch, the floor, my hair. And I dance and sing and clean up toys and I give all of my time. and attention to keeping other humans alive and happy, and it goes completely unnoticed. I put my life, my career, my dreams on hold so that our kids could have a parent at home. Sam couldn't possibly understand how that felt because he works with adults and is recognized for his contributions to society, and so the least he could do was every once in a while

acknowledge all I did for this family. Not my finest moment. It wasn't fair. It didn't acknowledge. It didn't acknowledge how much he does for our family or that a lot of times adults don't say thank you either or the fact that I chose to be with my kids and that when it all boils down I want to be with them. I knew that, but I couldn't help but lash out during our state of the union. I wanted someone to acknowledge what I do. I wanted someone to take care of me. I wanted to be important and not the person stuck at home with no recognition or reward for my work. Deep down, I think we probably all feel those feelings one way or another. We want to be noticed, acknowledged, important, and when that doesn't happen, we often find ourselves frustrated, feeling overlooked and undervalued. In Mark 10, we find out that

James and John, two of the disciples of Jesus, had that same desire inside of them. You see, James and John, asked Jesus to let them sit at his right and left when he comes into his glory. They want to be in the places of honor, recognized and important in Jesus's triumphant kingdom. And when the rest of the disciples hear about their request, they aren't pumped about it. And their frustration reveals that maybe they also want to be important to be recognized. And they didn't like that James and John were asking to be placed in higher regard than them. And this is how Jesus responds. verse 42. Jesus called them together and said,

You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. So faced with the egos of his very human disciples, Jesus responds by reminding them first that they're to live by a different standard. He acknowledges that in the world that those who are great use their power to perpetuate their power. to remain at the top to stay important and lord their importance over those beneath them. But that isn't what it's like in his kingdom. He continues,

instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. You see, in the kingdom of God, those who want to be great, well, they'll serve. They will be slaves of all. The language is, intense here, but that's because the call is a dramatic call. Those who are great in God's kingdom, they give their all, devote their lives, give up everything for the good of others. That's a lot to ask. And if I'm honest, as evidenced by my conversation with my husband, I don't love the idea of giving my whole life to being a servant of others. I bristle at the idea. Maybe you do too. Maybe you find yourself asking the same questions as me. Why? Why do I have to be the one? And Jesus doesn't just make this

claim unfounded. Verse 45, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. You see, when Jesus came, he didn't come down as a conquering king to subjugate all of creation so that they could serve him, although he most certainly could have. No, he came to die. He gave his life. He gave everything to serve the rest of creation. His life, his death, and his resurrection were all lived so that the rest of creation could have a hope of redemption. Jesus spent his life, his ministry caring for the needs of others, and in his death, he gave it all so that we could be free to live the way we were created to live. See, God calls us to be servants like Jesus. He calls us to give everything even if no one notices,

even if no one says thank you, even if the world never calls us important. Unfortunately, so often when we think about living that way, when we give everything to the needs of others, we can feel like we're choosing to live insignificant lives. But here, Jesus turns that idea on its head. He gives purpose to our unnoticed, overlooked, undervalued work. He calls it great. He calls it important. To live the life of a servant is to live like Jesus. To live the life of a servant is to participate in bringing Jesus' kingdom into the world around us. That is good, valuable, important work. Maybe you're like me and you stay home with kids, feeling like the world doesn't see you, feeling like you're missing out on chances to do something valuable.

Maybe you've missed out on opportunities to get ahead in your job because you choose to faithfully do the jobs that no one else wants to do, the jobs that don't get the glory. Maybe you're caring for aging parents. Maybe you just feel stuck in life. Like you can't get ahead, like you aren't doing anything important. When you're feeling underappreciated, when your work goes under the radar, when you feel like what you're doing isn't important, remember that, we do not play by the same rules as the world around us. In the kingdom of God, every one of us can find purpose and worth and value in living our lives as servants. We can do that wherever God has placed us.

God values the work of a faithful servant. So wherever you are, and whatever you do, what if you started to see your life as an opportunity to serve those around you, to care for the needs of others, to really listen to the people in your life, to take small steps to make the people around you feel loved, to step up and fill the needs in your church family.

You know, I may never get a thank you from my kids. Sam may forget to tell me out loud that he's grateful for my work, and the world may never give me an award for keeping my two under two alive and happy, and that's okay. Because as I give my life to serve the needs of my family, to love them, to care for them, I'm doing good, important work for the kingdom of God. No matter what we do, we can serve the people around us, and we can give our lives in service to the kingdom of God. God sees the servant. He himself came to be the suffering servant for all of creation.

Today, let's believe that there's no greater thing we can do in our lives than live them as servants of King Jesus.