Servanthood

Do you consider yourself a servant?

“We’ve been filled with great treasure for one purpose: to be spilled.”

So says Joanna Weaver in her book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. Such a simple picture of God’s purpose for our lives. He fills us up with everything good that He has to give and we overflow all that goodness into the lives of others. We serve.

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about serving. My dictionary tells me to serve means to be of use in achieving or satisfying; to perform a role or function; to be of some specified use. The yearning of my heart as a young Christian was to be of use to God; to serve Him in a significant way. I started with what was obvious. I was a wife and a mother so I decided I would focus on serving my God by serving my husband and children. At first it was out of sheer will and determination that I tried so hard to do my best. My motivation may have been to feel good about myself or maybe to impress God a little bit. Eventually, along the way, something different happened. Something God has planned for all of us – to be overwhelmed by the blessings and rewards of giving of ourselves to others.

I believe we all want our lives to matter, to have purpose and meaning. We dream of making a difference; of making the world a better place for everyone. Giving our lives over to serving is not usually the first thought on our minds as a means to that end. We need to change our thinking. The Greek translation for the word servant is doulos. The meaning of doulos is actually more like slave or bondservant. That would be someone who has given up his own rights to serve another. Isn’t that what salvation is all about?

You see, serving is a lot more about who we are than it is about what we do. When we make the decision to surrender our life to God, we become His child. Our own life becomes His life. As we begin to realize His love for us, we fall more in love with Him. The more we walk in that love, the more we want to please and serve Him. Our heart’s desires begin to align with His heart. The eventual anticipated result is living our life with an “others oriented” attitude in servitude to Him.

When my children were little, our church presented a musical starring Psalty, the singing songbook. One of our favorite songs had these lyrics, “If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all.” (Matthew 20:26) They continued to sing this catchy tune for weeks afterward. What a great thought to be on their minds. The lesson of the musical was not to be a servant for our own sake but for the sake of revealing God’s goodness to those around us. Serving is a mindset that we acquire as we persist in surrendering our lives to our God.

When we serve we experience the joy and peace of obedience. Ephesians (2:10) reminds us that God has already prepared good deeds for us to do. How refreshing and renewing to know we are walking out His plan and His purpose for our lives.

When we serve we are able to further develop the gifts God has given us (1 Peter 4:10). Whether hospitality, compassion, encouragement, or one of countless others, our gifts will only get better as we continually and intentionally use them for the gain of the folks our lives might touch.

When we serve we become increasingly more thoughtful of others (Philippians 2:4). Helping people and thinking about how we can help people becomes a rewarding lifelong habit.

When we serve we become more like Jesus in our actions and our motivations (Mark 10:45). Our faith in the truth of God’s word grows as we humbly give, and experience the knowledge of His pleasure in us. Our service is His love in action.

I recently was the recipient of many acts of service when I had to undergo surgery and a brief stay in the hospital. For a couple of days I was helpless to do some things on my own. The doctors, nurses, technicians and other medical personnel served me with kindness and encouragement. My husband took care of me above and beyond expectation without the slightest complaint. He continued to exclaim how much of a blessing he was receiving as he selflessly took care of my needs. What a picture of God’s intentions! Our jobs, our daily chores, our marriages, our parenting, our relationships are all the places where we engage in serving every single day.

Today I hope your heart is open to be filled to overflowing with all the goodness of God so that you “spill out” in service all over the others around you. Draw near to Him. Ask Him where and whom you can serve. You will develop a satisfying habit that will reap rewards of great happiness!