being a servant

Luke 17

7 “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, 

‘Come in and eat with me’? 

8 No, 

he says, 

‘Prepare my meal, 

put on your apron, 

and serve me while I eat. 

Then you can eat later.’ 

9 And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? 

Of course not. 

10 In the same way, 

when you obey me you should say, 

‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”



This is Jesus talking here.

It's kind of a hard saying about being a servant.

We here in white middle class evangelical Christian paradigm have glamorized being "a servant of the Lord"

We think it's supposed to be glamorous.

We're supposed to know why we are being & doing what we're being & doing as "servants of the Lord."

We also think we should & deserve to see the results of that service.

We think that our service will only expand & grow as we climb the ladder of being a servant.

iow, as "servants of the Lord" we are guaranteed success - a success that we will see come to fruit & validate our righteousness & servanthood.


I don't think that is a realistic picture of being "a servant of the Lord."

Being a "servant of the Lord" is more often than not a paradigm that is seldom glamorous.

Much of the time we as servants aren't given explanations as to our acts of service.

We should remember we are servants - servants seldom have explanations for the mandates given them.

It is counterproductive for servants to feel entitled to observing the results of their acts of service.

Being "a servant of the Lord" isn't like climbing the corporate ladder - servants aren't "upwardly mobile" in their lives as servants - often some acts of service will not fulfill anyone's concepts of going to greater & greater things.

Visible success is not always a given when we are serving the Lord.

And many times we will find that as we remain obedient to the Lord, serving Him in the ways He directs, many if not most of the people we know & love will think we're crazy, stupid, in error, or all of the above.


People who say "all I want is to be a servant of the Lord" have never been one.

Abandoning ourselves to the Lord is something to be considered intelligently before committing.

Would I trade the life I've had these 50 years since doing so?

No, I wouldn't trade it for anything, because I have been serving the God of the universes.

And there have been blindingly terrific times of wonderful seasons of ministry.

At the same time, it has often been difficult, I've been clueless as to what's going on, & it has cost me everything.


I recommend it - to my way of thinking, it is the only really truly worthy expression in response to the infinite love & mercy God shows toward us.

But we should all consider the realities of "being a servant of the Lord" as we walk into it.

Being aware of what it means will help us appreciate the amazing seasons as well as weather the difficult / hard seasons.