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I do not know if ever I have met a man or a woman who did not at some place and for some purpose desire to be relevant; to be of some value to someone. Even the several disheveled, aimless and mentally detached men and women I have met in more than six decades of life have at some time and in some place and manner wanted to know that their lives meant something to someone.”

Simply stated, all of us enter this world with the embryo of desire for relevancy

What is it that makes a man truly a man or a woman, essentially a woman? Biology indicates gender, but gender does not inevitably denote “maleness” or “femaleness.” These qualities are much more than physical attributes or timbre of voice.

When we speak of “manhood” and “womanhood” we nearly always have more in mind than physical appearance. Masculinity and femininity do not derive from the blue or pink colors or from our attraction to toy trucks or Barbie dolls or a wardrobe of blue jeans or dresses. The qualities of maturity appear as a person develops, as he or she grows, matures, changes, and learns.

The Strong Submit; The Weak Resist

A key to becoming a mature, fully developed man or woman lies in the seeming contradiction of submission. A mistaken philosophy of life teaches that a man or a woman should never submit to any external force; that maturity and strength are manifested in resistance to submission. Those who would forge their own unique destinies, those who would move through life giving no quarter to anyone and requesting none by any are held up by society as the strong men or women of a culture.

Up is Down and Down is Up

Jesus Christ brought to earth a Kingdom not of this world. He said, “ . . . he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The greatest of men ever to appear on earth’s ageless stage appeared as a servant of all. The inescapable reality of human maturity and purpose is found in this:

“Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Jesus not only said it, but He did it; He modeled His teaching by laying down His life in the most painful and horrific manner our minds might imagine. He who was and remains the greatest among us served us, making Himself “of no reputation,” humbling Himself.

He, the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords and the very maker of the universe humbled Himself, laid down His rights, His position, His crown, His life and suffered humiliation, mockery, horrendous physical abuse and watched His very life flow from overburdened veins and from pierced flesh until all that remained were the words, “It is finished.” Jesus, the Master of all that exists, submitted to death, became its Prisoner, was held in death’s spiteful grip – God Himself submitted so that we could reign; Heaven’s great Architect drew the very blueprint of our redemption through the strongest act of history – through submission, obedience and full surrender He became Master of all.

There is something intrinsic within the heart of man that struggles with the idea that someone or something may hold mastery over us.

Jesus appeared among us as a servant of all, while at the same time teaching us that in order to find true freedom, true liberty of the soul He must be Master over us. In His mastery and in our submission to His rule He promised that His yoke, His burden would be easy to receive and would be light to carry. His Mastery is not burdensome, yet the stubborn heart and the unsubmitted soul resist surrender at virtually all cost.

If only we might have eyes to see and ears to hear: Jesus is the Master Who enables man to master the base things, the fruitless, the profitless things; those things that would ensnare and quite literally master us. The subtle yet undeniable truth is this: Only in submitting to The Master do we find true freedom from the bondage of the profitless and the peace of true mastery of life’s deceptions and snares.

Relevancy is Found in Relinquishing our Rights

We must learn the hidden truths that stand in stark relief against a desolate and gloomy landscape of mediocrity: It is in surrender that we find victory; in losing, we win. It is when we concede defeat that we discover conquest. In giving up our rights we find new privilege; in yielding we learn to bend but not to break. In dying we find new life.

A Child of the King

No position is so powerful and no place is so secure as recognizing that one is the child of the most benevolent and authoritative King of all that exists, both in this world and in worlds to come. There exists no higher position or greater station than to know that one is a child of the King; and not a king such as has been represented among fickle and capricious men. The King of which I speak is the Faithful God and the Lord of glory. He is the “Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” He is “the bright and morning star” and “He is fairer than ten thousand.” “He is fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into His lips: therefore God has blessed Him forever.”

To surrender to one so majestic, to submit to one so pure, so holy and so just, so loving, so kind, so humble and so great is more than wisdom; surrender to Him is life itself.

A man more brilliant than the catalog of scholars and thinkers of earth’s ages identified himself as “bondservant.” The Apostle Paul defined his very relationship with Jesus as one of servant and Master.

In the ultimate search of the human heart for relevance in this life, the starting point, the genesis must be submission, surrender, yieldedness to the Master, the One who laid down His rights, His position, His power and His life so that you and I might live and move and have our being as bondservants, and as true examples of men and women made free by our willing captivity to the King who truly makes us free.