Service starts in your mind (As does temptation – remember?)
Attitudes count more than achievements. God is always more interested in why we do something than what we do.
+ Servants think more about others than about themselves.
This is what it means to ‘lose your life’ – forgetting yourself in service to others. It’s only when we forget ourselves that we do the things that deserve to be remembered.
Unfortunately, we serve to get others to like us, to be admired, or to achieve our own goals – that is manipulation, not ministry.
Humility is a daily struggle, a lesson we must relearn over and over. Self-denial is the core of servanthood.
+ Servants think like stewards, not owners.
Servants remember that GOD OWNS IT ALL!
Servanthood and stewardship go together, since God expects us to be trustworthy in both. To become a real servant you are going to have to settle the issue of money in your life…
You CANNOT serve both God and Money.
Living for your ministry and living for money are mutually exclusive goals. Money and materialism has the greatest potential to replace GOD in your life.
God uses money to test your faithfulness as a servant. How you manage your money affects how much God can bless your life – use wealth and riches to fund God’s church and its mission in the world. (My tithing philosophy rings clear here; how you further God’s work with your excess funds and goods is a personal choice between donating to an organized body and going out and doing it yourself – I don’t think God minds; as long as you are doing it with the right attitude of heart)
+ Servants think about their work, not what others are doing.
Competition between God’s servants is illogical – we’ve all been given different assignments; and we’re all uniquely shaped.
(Makes me think about our manual labourers at work; always checking and squabbling about who’s perhaps doing a greater share of the workload {reckon it’s because the daily pay rate is the same} – can’t blame them, I guess – still find it amusing…)
It is not our job to evaluate the Master’s other servants – let the Master handle it. Your service for Christ is never wasted regardless of what others say.
+ Servants base their identity in Christ.
They remember that they are loved and accepted by grace; and accordingly don’t have to prove their worth. If you’re going to be a servant, you must settle your identity in Christ – only secure people can truly serve God.
When you base your worth and identity on your relationship to Christ, you are freed from the expectations of others, and that allows you to really serve them best.
Servants find status symbols unnecessary, and they don’t measure their worth by their achievements. The closer you get to Jesus, the less you need to promote yourself.
+ Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. (Love this)
“Serve the Lord with gladness” the Bible tells us.
Because we love the Lord, we’re grateful for His grace, and we know that serving is the highest use of life, and know that God has promised a reward.
Jesus promised: “The Father will honour and reward anyone who serves me” – and now we know how…
‘The only really happy people are those who have learned to serve’ – Albert Schweitzer
Deuce... I love you ~ SB
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