“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and
servant of all.”
— Mark 9:35b (NRSV)
There are many, many Christians
who have lost faith in the church because either their servant hearts were
abused or they weren’t servant-hearted (enough) and sought recognition for
their works of sacrifice. In the first place the leaders of the church may have
been inappropriately carnal. In the second place, the serving Christian was
looking for worldly kudos and not the kudos of God.
What is needed in the world of
servanthood is a heart invasion, where Jesus Christ has taken us hostage by
love, and by love we must now operate: a gospel miracle.
The miracle of the gospel, as it
is thrust irrepressibly into a person’s soul who is saved by Jesus Christ, is
the power indwelling the servant-shaped heart.
Serving for the Love of It
This is a concept that is
absolutely bizarre, verging on the ridiculous, for the worldly person. They
cannot understand why someone would want to be the last of all and servant of
all, giving their life away for the glory of God.
The worldly person seems to have
the better perspective. They may sacrifice for their family and close friends,
but at the end of the day they live for themselves. Serving God, to them, would
be a negation of life. That’s their prerogative.
But when the heart is turned
towards God—when the Lord becomes our Lord—we are captivated for the love of
serving. It is a privilege to serve; to work for an invisible but never more
real Kingdom. There is love in the work—in the process of the work—no matter
how menial the tasks of serving are. In fact, the more menial and undesirable
task may bring more joy in the serving.
One of the reasons we love serving
is because we serve with others who are captivated by the same passion;
bringing glory to God, because they can. Such a life sown to serving is inspirational to live, to share, to observe, and to reflect
on. God lives in us vibrantly through our serving.
When our hearts are won to this
majestic obsession, which is tempered by wisdom, so our serving has
sustainability about it, we have the abundant life.
***
The servant-shaped heart sits
within the soul of the person who has abundant life. They have discovered the
secret to life: to gain their life they must lose it. To get life they must
give it away. No ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’. Real servanthood is about the sheer love of
work for others. It requires no recognition and no reward. To serve is its own
reward.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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