I’m in Rotary in Jacksonville, TX. We meet on Wednesdays and during the meeting
we have several routine things we do.
For example, we say the pledge to both the American and Texas flags; we
pray and we say “The Four Way Test,” which is specific to Rotary. Another routine that started recently with our
former president is on occasion we will say the phrase, “SERVICE ABOVE SELF”
when he stands and says, “I’m excited.”
That phrase, “SERVICE ABOVE SELF” is a slogan that we have adopted as a group
because we believe it truly captures the essence of what Rotary is all about.
Now though that phrase is catchy and fitting for Rotary,
that is not a principle that originated with Rotary or any other civic
organization. Truth is that phrase is
biblical. Putting others first is what
God tells us we are to be doing in His word.
During Jesus' earthly ministry, he told His followers more than a few
times that the greatest among them would be the last. He says in Mark 4:35,
If anyone would be first, he must be last of
all and servant of all.
Jesus not only taught this, He exampled this for us. John tells us in John 13,
Now before the Feast
of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this
world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them
to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of
Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had
given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going
back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel,
tied it around his waist. Then he poured
water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with
the towel that was wrapped around him…When he had washed their feet and put on
his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand
what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for
so I am. If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you
also should do just as I have done to you.
