Our carnal nature (our flesh as opposed to our spirit) recoils away from the most beneficial things of life, and instead tends to gravitate toward detrimental habits and behaviors. Between the enemy of your soul (Satan and his demon followers) and your own flesh both trying to influence you away from what is godly and good, a person who is careless and unwise will end up thinking that obedience to God, self sacrifice, and service to others are merely “sour grapes,” when in fact, those behaviors bring about the sweetest things in this life. Our Lord Jesus understood this very truth. That’s why we read in the Holy Scriptures that the Lord of Glory, the Creator of the Universe—once He became manifested in flesh, as Jesus—was seen girding Himself with a servant’s towel, and washing the feet of His followers. Foot-washing was, at that time, a demeaning task usually delegated to the lowest slave in a household. His grasp of this truth is also why we read about Jesus making astounding statements such as,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-27).
At the grand conclusion of His ministry (His service) Jesus did indeed give His life a ransom for many, by dying on the cross on Calvary (i.e. Golgotha, the place of the skull). His ultimate sacrifice purchased salvation as a possibility for any human being of any place and any time period for all of human existence. His blood sacrifice, laying down His life, was retroactive for all the true believers who had lived and died in faith prior to His coming, and proactive for all true believers in the future, even those who had not yet been born.
Follow His lead. Your life of service, of ministry, certainly won’t buy as much benefit as His sinless sacrifice did, but it’s sure to buy the best things in life, all the right and godly and eternal things that cannot be bought or sold with money or fame or power or force. These grapes are sweet indeed. “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8).
