Jesus said: “I am among you as one that serves” and “I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many.” The Apostle Paul’s idea of service is the same as our Lord’s: “Ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” So long as there is a human being who does not know Jesus Christ, I am his debtor to serve him until he does. The mainspring of our service must not ultimately be love for men, but love for Jesus Christ. If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken–hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men.

Paul’s realization of how Jesus Christ had dealt with him is the secret of his determination to serve others. “I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor”—no matter how men may treat me, they will never treat me with the spite and hatred with which I treated Jesus Christ. When we realize that Jesus Christ has served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness, and sin, nothing that we meet with from others can exhaust our determination to serve men for His sake.

— Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, February 13th.