Make Me A Servant

I love this "Servant Song":

"Lord, make me a servant,
Lord, make me like You;
For you are a servant,
Make me one, too.

Lord, make me a servant,
Do what You must do,
To make me a servant;
Make me like You."

Are you a servant? If you say that you are, then tell me what you have done, are doing & have plans that needs to be done? I love this verse, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:" Philippians 2:5 (niv) Really, this verse is talking about "change". Being a servant of Christ, it requires a mental shift & a change in your attitudes. What is interesting is that God is much more interested in "WHY" we do something rather than in what we do.

Some of us may tell God, "Well, I attend worship every Sunday to praise you! That shows that I am "serving" you!" That's true! But that's not the "ONLY" mark of a servant. Proverbs 14:12 tells us that, "It seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death!" I love to worship God on Sundays. But worship is only a place where we "prepare ourselves to serve the people around us." We ask God to help us surrender our lives, our time, our energies for the people who need us.

I want to flip the pages forward to James 2:14-17: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (niv)

Serving God involves a whole lot more than just simply worshipping Him on Sundays. You know your own heart. Let's help each other work toward being true servants of our Lord Jesus Christ! Here are a couple of attitudes we'll need to work on:

REAL SERVANTS FORGETS SELF!

This type of servant are "others-centered" NOT "self-centered"! Remember, Christians lost their lives for the sake of Christ. Forgetting self is very rare in the world today! People have been taught and driven to compete against other for power and position. They possess a "me-centered-mentality"! Consider Jesus, for example, "..but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." Philippians 2:7 (niv) Being a servant of Christ means being "nothing yourselves". It means that we stop focusing on our "own needs" and start focusing on the needs of others for the pleasure of God!

Unfortunately, a lot of our service is often self-serving. We serve to get others to like us, to be admired, or to achieve our own goals. That is manipulation, not ministry. All the time we’re really thinking about ourselves and how noble and wonderful we are. Some people try to use service as a bargaining tool with God: "I’ll do this for you God, if you’ll do something for me." Real servants don’t try to use God for their purposes. They let God use them for His purposes.

REAL SERVANTS THINK ABOUT OF THEIR OWN RESPONSIBILITIES, NOT WHAT OTHER SERVANTS ARE DOING

They don’t compare, criticize, or compete with other servants or ministries. They’re too busy doing the work God has given them.

Competition between God’s servants is illogical for many reasons: we’re all on the same team, our goal is to make God look good, not ourselves, we’ve been given different assignments, and we’re all uniquely shaped. Paul said, We will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

There’s no place for mere jealousy between servants. When you’re busy serving, you don’t have time to be critical. Any time spent criticizing others is time that could have been spent ministering. When Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping with the work, she lost her servant’s heart. Real servants don’t complain of unfairness, don’t have pity-parties, and don’t resent those not serving. They just trust God and keep serving.

REAL SERVANTS BASE THEIR IDENTITY IN CHRIST

If you’re going to be a servant you must settle your identity in Christ. Only secure people can serve. The more insecure you are, the more you’ll want people to serve you, the more you’ll need their approval, and the more you'll be in for series of major disappointments. On the other hand, when you base your worth and identity on your relationship to Christ, you are freed from the expectation of others. You are freed to serve.

Servants don’t need to cover their walls with plaques and awards to validate their work. They don’t insist on being addressed by titles and they don’t wrap themselves in robes of superiority. Servants find status symbols unnecessary and they never measure their worth by their achievements. Paul said, "You may brag about yourself, but the only approval that counts is the Lord's approval."

REAL SERVANTS THINK OF MINISTRY AS AN OPPORTUNITY, NOT AN OBLIGATION

If you're only interested in being called "A CHRISTIAN" but not serve, God wouldn't quite understand what you're trying to do. You'll be confusing a whole lot of people around you if you live this way! I have encountered a lot of people living this way and they still do. Even though, I give them my admonishment, they shrug their shoulders and walk away.

A servant who think of ministry as an opportunity enjoy helping people, meeting needs, and doing ministry. They "serve the Lord with gladness." Why do we serve with gladness? Because we love the Lord, we’re grateful for his grace, we know serving is the highest use of life, and God has promised a reward.

What is the mark of a true servant of our Lord Jesus Christ? Humility! I pray that each of you, Christians, are a "marked person": consistent in your faith and love for God and others, enduring the obstacles and considering each one an opportunity, not a danger, living the righteousness of God, and affection for others (not a cold heart; but a warm one)!

Lord, make me a servant!