Servants are Just Weak People
When I was at School I always thought that Christianity and serving was for girls and weak men who couldn’t get real jobs!  Having now devoted a whole year planning, and a few days doing the Act10n event with the sole purpose of serving you might ask has my thinking changed? Well, for a start,I now accept I am a weak man without a real job, so maybe I was right after all! Seriously though, my understanding has dramatically changed and that started with recognising the difference between serving and being a servant.
To serve or be a servant?
You might “serve” a meal or “serve” in a role that needs doing, but being “a servant” is very different in both status and demands. Christians must understand that we are not asked to serve occasionally but to be servants for life. A dictionary definition of a servant is, “One who expresses submission, recognisance, or debt to another.” To serve often entails us willingly choosing to do an act of kindness to someone we like or care about. However, being a servant is about being in lifelong submission to others whom we may not like and doing things we would not choose to do. Our culture does not look up to servants or want to express submission to another, so how do we get there?
Firstly as Christians we are followers of Jesus. When we look at Jesus’ life we see the creator of the universe - all powerful, all knowing and present everywhere - giving all this up to come as a human; born into poverty with a destiny to die naked on a cross for crimes he did not commit. Jesus was a servant to everybody in history. Why did he do this? Because he loved YOU and I. Love is the first key in being a servant. We do not naturally have this kind of love but God longs to pour out his love into our lives so we can pour it out on others. We need God’s love to love like Jesus
Prayer One: “ Lord, help me, by your Spirit, to have the love I need to love others”
 Secondly the Bible says to consider others better than ourselves. (Ph. 2:3) This is against everything our colonial history and status-obsessed culture teaches us. However status is all about our security. We need to understand as Christians that our identity and security is in heaven with God, not on here earth. Jesus came into poverty, was homeless during his ministry, never held any position of authority or status and yet knew his position with his heavenly Father. When we are secure in whom God intended us to be and our heavenly status with Him, only then will we be free to be the servants God always intended us to be. True status gives us true freedom. Prayer two: “ Lord help me to know my true identity in you that I might be free to consider others better than myself.”
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