Servitude

"So we have been sent for Christ. It is as if God is calling to you through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. Christ had no sin, but God made Him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God. We are workers together with God, so we beg you; do not let the grace that you received from God be for nothing, God says, 'At the right time I heard your prayers. On the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you that the "right time" is now and the 'day of salvation' is now. We do not want anyone to find fault with our work, so nothing we do will be a problem for anyone. But in every way we show we are servants of God: in accepting many hard things, in troubles, in difficutlties, and in great problems. We are beaten and throw into prison. We meet those who become upset with us and start riots. We work hard and sometimes we get no sleep or food. We show we are servants of God by our pure lives, our understanding, patience and kindness by the Holy Spirit, by true love, by speaking the truth and by God's power. We use our right living to defend ourselves against everything. Some people honor us, but others blame us. Some people say evil things about us, but others say good things. Some people say we are liars, but we speak the truth. We are not know, but we are well known. We seem to be dying but we continue to live. We are punished but we are not killed. We have much sadness, but we are always rejoicing. We are poor, but we are making many people rich in faith. We have nothing but really we have everything." 2 Corrinthians 5:20-6:10 NCV

This past week the subject of servitude has been reoccuring. It's a subject I'm addressing my current novel, so it's been on my mind. The other day a story came on KLOVE. The DJ was talking about a man who decided to pay the toll of a man behind him. The guy was so touched that he went home and told his son that he loved him, which in turn saved his son's life as he was contemplating suicide.

Later a song was placed on my heart. Ray Boltz had a song that talked about the lesson in humility Jesus gave his disciples in John Chapter 13. I started thinking about those scriptures. The disciples were discussing who would be the greatest. They all were surprised when Jesus knelt before them and began washing their feet. This job was usually performed by the lowest ranking person and that certainly wasn't Jesus. He loved the disciples. With the greatest commandment being "loving your neighbor as yourself," Jesus displayed a great example for us to follow.

People line up to do the tasks that that are considered important, glamorous or respected. But Jesus showed humility by doing the tasks that no one wanted to do. Pride and arrogance ruins relationships. Humility and service to others is evidence of love. We should not waste our energy and our time worrying about how we compare to others. Jesus said that the greatest were not the warriors, leaders or heroes; ... that they were powerless, obedient and humble. It is our responsbility to fill the needs we see, no matter who we are or who they are. Even Jesus served Judas, who later betrayed him.

I pray that God creates in me a heart of a servant; that my actions will exemplify Him to others. May Matthew 5:16 ring true for my life.