One of the most difficult jobs in the world is coaching an NBA team.  By the time the very elite of the basketball world reach pro status they have usually developed a world view which places them at the center.  Add to that the enormous amount of money they are paid and the adulation and applause of their fans.  What you get is the necessity for a coach to be an “ego-manager”…no easy task.

Wealth and celebrity status inevitably fuel egoism.  But strangely enough so does poverty and notoriety.  The human deformity of the self is just as common in the ghetto or the prison as it is in the Presidential Suite or the boardroom.

In Luke 12:35-44, Jesus talks about the necessary watchfulness of Kingdom servants who are waiting for their master to return.  Right in the middle is the surprise.  The most important, the smartest, the richest, the most powerful person in the universe will dress like a servant!  He will have his servants recline at the table and he will wait on them!  Jesus consistently reveals God as the leader with a servant’s heart.  We see glimpses of this behavior wired into our DNA.  Mothers instinctively serve the needs of their babies.  Fathers selflessly work long hours often at dangerous or dirty jobs to support their families.  We universally regard good parenting as goodness.  When we begin to understand that God is the source of all such goodness, we are being led toward repentance (Romans 1:4).