Make Me a Servant?
August 13th, 2009We often sing a song at our congregation called, “Make Me a Servant.” It has memorable sentiment in the words. “Make me a servant, make me like you; for you are a servant, make me one, too.”
If I am seeking to live the life of a servant, I will want to follow the example of THE Servant, Jesus. He came to serve, not to be served (see Mark 10:45). He showed that servant spirit in everything from washing feet at the last supper to healing the sick to raising the dead to sacrificing his life on the cross.
I heard a statement the other day that has caused me to reevaluate myself. The speaker said, “I want to be a servant, I just don’t want to be treated like one.” I can certainly identify. I wear the title, “Minister” (or “servant”), yet often don’t want to get my hands “dirty” with work that is “beneath” my elevated position.
It must be that I am trying to be like the disciples instead of the Master. They argued over greatness. Do you remember what Jesus told them? He said that the greatest would be the servant of all (Matthew 20:25-28).
Here is a scary thought. Sometimes we take on the mantra of a “servant,” not to actually serve, but to gain recognition as a “great one.” The reality is that when we pursue spiritual things with impure motives (i.e., what’s in it for me?), we lose the very thing we try to gain. When we serve from a pure heart we gain everything. Do you think that has something to do with saving and losing our lives (Matthew 10:39)?
I want to encourage us today to be servants. Serve, not in title, not in what we can get out of it, just serve. God deserves it; Jesus is honored by it; and people are better for it.
Keep The Light Burning!
Perry Greene
