Before Jesus Christ lead His disciples through the Last Supper, He didn't seek to elevate Himself. While some of the Twelve debated which of them would be "greatest", Christ lowered Himself to Servant and Slave.
While Christ was preparing to take the greatest stage in the history of the world He relegated Himself to a washbasin and dirty feet. This was His preparation before taking the platform where God Himself would watch His Son die for the redemption of sinful man.
In this (or any) environment Christ would have been totally justified to request or require to be elevated, honored, or even pampered at His last meal on Earth. Instead of talking about the spotlight He was about take, He went to the shadows to quietly do the most menial and least respected of tasks.
It's interesting to me that THIS was Christ's own response to what would become an ultimate act of obedience to God the Father and love for us - played out as humiliation, pain, and mocking on a cruel and ugly cross. In His immediate surroundings, there was a most ungrateful and unaccepting audience. But ultimately, He was offering His obedience and actions to the Ultimate Audience, God the Father.
How often do we prepare to lead - be it music, teaching, drama, whatever, and we pray that God grant us good voices, good memory, and the like? How often do we deeply desire to win the praise of those around us? Certainly, the praise of the audience is nice, but praise from our peers is not to be overlooked.
How often do we bicker to one another that "We deserve..." this or that? How often are we offended when things don't go the way we'd like? How frustrated do we get if we don't perform at what we believe to be our best? Forget a lyric or a bullet point? Oh...you've ruined everything!
Should we not seek to do as Christ did before He took His grand stage? Should we not seek to glorify God in our obedience and actions above how well we "perform"? Should we not strive for God's approval over that of men?
How can we, as a body of believers - some of us "lead worshippers" - do more to humble ourselves before others and God in preparation to worship Him? Instead of praying for ourselves, pray for others that will hear. Instead of praying for a positive reception from the crowd, pray for discomfort for all that are in the presence of the King. Instead of singing to "them", sing to Him!
Certainly, striving for excellence is proper. Christ Himself was perfect in His obedience to His Father. God deserves (so much more than) our best, to be sure. But we often lose focus that our best is far from adequate and short of the perfect glory that God deserves. In remembering that, I pray we can bow our heads, bend our knees, and break our hearts in the presence of our Creator. I pray that if need be, He shuts your mouth so you're just still and quiet in His presence - no matter who else is around.
Later.