Mark 10:35–And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
If we think about our desires and what we would like from others, are requests come from having our personal preferences met.  How we like our coffee, our food, our room temperature, etc.  All things being shaped around being served.  Being on vacation this week, that is definitely not a bad thing at all, as a matter of fact I love it!
However when we consider “life” outside vacation, do we still walk around with this “entitlement”, having a mindset to be served, as opposed to living to serve other people?  Outside of an occupation that serves others, like social services, education, and even most businesses, does this mentality to serve extend to our lifestyle at home?  After serving all day at a job, maybe the last thing we desire to do is “pour ourselves out” at home?
Being a servant naturally can seem demeaning, especially if people treat us as “less than” because we serve them.  So what must accompany being a servant who doesn’t see themselves as less than, is supernatural humility, a “fruit” and mindset that Jesus was looking to instill into His disciples.  Knowing that without a changed mindset to see humility before God, as the “fruit” needed to serve, the disciples would be ineffective to carry out His mission…
James and John came to Jesus with a mindset that proved that they thought life centered around being served.  They come to Jesus thinking that He is here to serve them, and whatever desires they had.  Though Jesus had shown them His power and majesty as being the Lord, and that He came to serve, their mindset had yet to be changed.  This easily can be our mindset in approaching Jesus in in our relationship/prayers, wanting Him to do what we want, when in reality we don’t know what we are asking for, if living for Him is our intent…
In a desire to be great, these two disciples saw Jesus as a means to their own agenda/glory.  But in walking with God, the mindset to come to Him asking Him what He wants, is a sign of humility and service to His agenda.  So greatness looks more like being humble and subservient, than egotistical and dominate over others.  Test yourself and ask whether you come to Jesus wanting him to make you great compared to other people?  Because if so, that involves a lot of humble service through hardship and suffering like Him.  The suffering and hardship was something that the brothers never considered for “greatness”.  Had they considered what it really cost to be great in the eyes of God, they may have reconsidered asking for it…Mark 10:38–Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
In His Love, Ld