What do you think it really looks like for one man to humble himself before another? How do we really live that out?

What all does it mean to you?

It's quick and easy to think of "humbling oneself" in the form of serving others. And, when we think of that, we think of physical acts of serving others -- doing things to help them. Putting their comfort before our own.

And that's all good. Lots of stories of Jesus modeling that for us.

But one story that's always interested me is when Jesus met the woman at the well. Instead of getting His own water and even serving her water, He asked her to serve Him.

Did you ever think about that? It hardly seems like a good example of living a life of humility and service.

Her response was fairly mild but could have been "Ha! Me get water for you, you holier-than-thou Jew? I am just a Samaritan ... get your own water!"

Jesus knew though that He had a bigger way to serve her than just drawing a cup of water for her. He recognized fertile soil in her and used His request for a cup of water to draw her into conversation -- conversation that could change her life.

Rather than just serve her in a physical way, Jesus served her in the greatest way possible -- by engaging her and discipling her ... to have a Kingdom impact on her life.

I can take some lessons from that. It is important to serve others in physical ways. I don't mean to denigrate that idea. But serving others by doing things for them is a pretty easy thing to do.

It is much more difficult to lay oneself open and look to invest oneself in another person ... to serve them not just with a physical cup of water but to serve them with something that will have an eternal impact.