He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
(Luke 1:51-53 ESV)

When Christ came to earth, he came with a mission: to set things right. For those of us who call Jesus our Lord, we are called to do life differently than what comes naturally. We are born with proud and selfish hearts. I have seen this in my own children right from when they were old enough to reach out and grab something out of another child’s hands. The only thing that changes as we get older is that we develop more sophisticated methods of grabbing things from people.

Christ came to call people to humble service in his kingdom. This means we give instead of take. We help instead of hurt. We are grateful instead of being grumpy.

This is not the way our human nature works, but with God’s help we will be able to take on the character of Christ. This Christmas, let’s make a conscious effort to honour the high call of Christ to be humble servants of others.