servanthood

John 12:25 Those who love their life will lose it.

Those who despise their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

26 All those who want to be my disciples must come & follow me,

        because my servants must be where I am.

We in the western world, particularly in America, have such a strong sense of entitlement attached to our servanthood.

Iow, we feel we are entitled to know what's going on, what the outcome will be, what the big picture is, who it is we're serving, when it will start & end, how is will all come about, & where this serving will take place.

And we attach such a success orientation to serving that if we don't see measurable success, then there must have been some sort of faulty expression in our servanthood.

Most people down through the millenia have not had the privilege of knowing the who, what,where, when, & how of their servanthood.

Check out what this lady has to say about it. Think about it. And then think about what our concept of servanthood is in comparison.


(The Characteristics of a Servant, Nancy Kline, Yahoo! Voices)

1. The first characteristic of servants is that they prize the interests of others above their own. They have a genuine concern of others. They do not serve for what they can get out of it, nor for some ulterior motive. They serve simply to meet needs in which God wants to use them to meet. They serve as an authentic expression of Christ-like love.

They esteem the other person as worthy to be served. In the world estimate that person may not be worth doing anything for. But Christians use a different standard. A person is valuable simple because God has created them. They take an interest in seeing the other person succeed. That means not just doing for that person what the servant wants or likes to do, but servants are called to take a real interest in what that other person is trying to do.


2. The second characteristic of servants is that they yield their rights. When a person decides to prize another's interests above their own, they find that it involves forfeiting many of their rights. Again, this runs contrary to the world's thinking, which makes so much out of demanding your rights. A servant of Christ forfeits those rights voluntarily. People love to be acknowledged. But the servants of Christ are willing to forfeit even the right of recognition. Much of what God wants to do in this world involves unsung efforts. We will often be called upon to do things for which we will get no credit of notice.

But we are willing to forfeit our rights to be recognized in order to get the job done for the kingdom of God. The bible tells us that what is done for God and goes unnoticed here on earth does not get missed in God's eyes and he has a future reward waiting. A far greater reward than anything this world could afford. I'd say, don't forfeit your heavenly reward by Broadcasting how you served God down here.


Many times people are in need and there is no one there to help them. Where are all the Christians? It is not that they are out doing anything immoral, illegal or unscriptural; they are just caught up doing their own thing. They are not concerned in serving others. Don't we love to tell God when, where, whom and how we are going to serve? We'll pray, "Lord, I'm going to serve you and here is what I'm going to do for you; I'll sing in the choir, I'll do this and that on Thursday evening . . ." and a few more item. Nothing wrong with the things they say they are going to do but they are starting out wrong. They are telling God what when and for how long; when they should start by asking God what he wants done and when he wants it done and for how long he wants it done.


3. A third characteristic of a servant is that they are willing to pay the cost of servant hood.
Servants of Christ not only forfeit their rights, but they also go beyond that to sacrificial giving of themselves. They are willing to give what ever is theirs if need be. Simply doing nice things for people can be relatively easy. You can see this all the time in the secular and business worlds. True servants of God can be called on by God to serve even when it will not prove rewarding to them

Much of what God wants to happen through our lives will take place in circumstances where there will have to be sacrifices and no compensation as reward. Most people only want to serve when it is convenient. They are willing to give whether money or time when they have it in excess. Not many rush in to serve when it will cost something. Involved in the sacrifice of servant hood is the cost of inconvenience. How available have you made yourself to do God's bidding?

Now here is the question: Why would anyone want to live as a servant? Lets face it, being a servant is not the most popular vocation in the world. Most people, no matter what culture they live in do not really want to serve others. The Christian, however, is called to serve.