"And whoseoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life ransom for many." Matthew 20:27-28
Throughout the ages, God has referred to His faithful people as His servants. The Bible even calls Jesus a servant. Jesus came not as a ruler, but as a teacher, a servant to His Father in heaven. From the example of Jesus' own life, He teaches, "But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:43-45).
Christ ransomed us that we, too, might serve God and man. In our zeal to serve, we often overlook a critical truth: The servant does not choose his tasks! I have currently been given the opportunity to serve the Lord in another way, other than through these daily devotions. I seem to be making one excuse after another as to why I don't think I can. Don't misunderstand me, but my self confidence is at a low esteem. But with the help of a very dear brother and friend, and much prayer, my eyes have been opened and now I plan to take on this wonderful task the Lord has set in front of me. This is also why this message is being shared with you today.
Our concept of serving God may be doing what we would like to do for God. Example: I love to get on my PC every day and do these devotions. It has been nearly two years now since I began them. But in a sense I have become idle. I haven't sought further works for the Kingdom of God, nor asked God if there was anything else I could do for Him in order to better serve. I find that many of us today are telling God what we will do for Him, where we will go for Him, and make sure that it doesn't interfere with our "other daily routines." In doing this we are forgetting ~ HE IS STILL OUR MASTER! And our Master assigns the task! Our job is to give of ourselves to Him and graciously accept the assignment He bestows on us!
I have learned that a servant is not free to serve on their own time. Jesus said, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth much fruit . . ." (John 15:16). So, we have been chosen to "run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1). I have read these verses of Scripture many times, and have used them on more than one occasion. But I have never really applied them the way God would have me do so. The race set before us may not be on the track we would choose, and perhaps the people God has placed around us would not be of our choice either. But if we look through our Bible, Jesus didn't pick and choose who to teach now did He? One by one He came upon His chosen disciples, but He did not stop there with teaching just the twelve men! Jesus gathered crowds with His great teachings! I had to ask myself, and you might also, "How much better are we than Him, that we should limit ourselves to the teachings of God?" Have to shamefully admit, I AM NOT! We are not above our Master folks! "The disciple is is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. . ." (Matthew 10:24-25).
Christ's life was one of sacrifice and doing the Father's will. Though He was rich, for our sakes He became poor (2Corinthians 8:9). He counted equality with God a thing not to be grasped but emptied Himself and became a servant (Philippians 2:6,7). He came to do God's will! As servants following in the foot-steps of Christ, we must present our bodies as "living sacrifices" folks, and start saying, "Here am I, I have come to do Your will O God!" Instead of, "Why me Lord? Use him or her!" Regardless of what our task may be, if God has chosen us to do it, let us do our very best to be pleasing to Him as we work for the glory of His kingdom!
Love in Christ Jesus, Sandy
I'm sorry if I got a little long-winded here this morning, but there was just so much I needed to say!
Have a wonderfully blessed day as you go into His house and give praise this morning! |
