Most people think that serving is the same as service, but I believe that there is a huge difference between the two. Service is something we pay for or something we might come to expect at a restaurant or at a gas station. But serving goes deeper. Serving deals with heart issues, involves sacrifice and meets real needs. We don’t pay for serving, though it can be costly.

Christ did not come to give good service. He came to serve. Athletes are not required to give good service to their teammates, but Christian athletes are called to serve. Coaches who follow the greatest servant who ever lived also have the privilege of serving their teams, not just providing a service to them.

Christ desires that we become servants to our players, teammates, friends, families and communities. We are His instruments—His serving instruments! That might be hard to understand in a world where it seems everyone wants to be a leader, not a servant. But Jesus never told us to be leaders. Instead, He invited us to be servants, and He did so at a cost. He served us with the ultimate sacrifice—His life—so that we might come into a right relationship with our holy God!

That’s the most priceless news we could ever hear. It’s why leadership camps sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes are really servant camps; their one goal is for the young people who attend to meet the most amazing servant ever to walk the earth, Jesus Christ. If we ever hope to lead, we must learn to serve. How? From the One who came to serve that we might follow in His steps!