serving

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.'"


We have such a success orientation connected with servanthood.

iow, we automatically think that just because we decide to follow Jesus & do what He tells us to do, we will live some sort of glitteringly fabulous life, praised by many, & adored, appreciated, admired by most.

that's not quite how it works out.

The people we see who live lives of serving who are all those things are the EXCEPTIONS, not the rule.

Most of us who serve the Lord just kinda slog it out each day in our places of service, loving people, & doing the best we can.

And most people will think we're crazy for being it or doing it.

And just remember that anyone who says (use a super-spiritual voice here), "all I want is to be servant of the Lord" has never been one.

Many times we don't & won't know why we're being &/or doing what we believe the Lord wants us to be &/or do.

Many of us won't see the results of our serving.

And lots of the time we won't know exactly who it is we're touching w/ our service.

iow, y'all - as a servant, we spend a lot of time being clueless.

Servants serve - we're seldom let in on the big picture.

We simply live lives that indicate we've told the Lord He can use us in what way He wants, whenever He wants, wherever He wants, with whomever He wants (but usually with crazy people!), or however He wants.

Lots of the time He won't explain what's going on.

He simply says "be this", &/or "do this" - & doesn't let us in on the plan.

This is an uncomfortable truth.

We expect God to tell us what's going on, why it's going on, what's going to eventually happen, how it's gonna happen, & how all these hordes of people are going to be affected.

It's like we have some sort of right to know, like God ought to feel lucky to have us out here in the trenches serving Him.

These are a lot of the things I've learned (the hard way) in the last 4 1/2 years here in Blairsville.

Being a servant is seldom glamorous for most people.

It's just what it says it is - serving - with no rights of our own, only the knowledge that God trusts us enough to allow us to be a small part in His overarching plan for humankind.

And like I said, it's one of those "inconvenient truths" as Christ followers we seldom talk about.

Think about it today...