Do you have a servant’s heart?
Don’t
be too quick to answer YES! Consider this: Do you become resentful or impatient
when asked to perform a service for others? Do you feel that any of the
required tasks are beneath your dignity? Are you reluctant to perform small
favors for those outside of your church family? Will you want credit or
recognition for each task you perform? If so you may be more of a servaholic
than a servant-leader.
God’s
Word calls us right into the tension between self-love and self-denial. Jesus
assumes that we love and care for ourselves to some degree (Matthew 22:39) but
he also calls us to radically die to our own desires (Matthew 16:24).
How
are we to navigate this paradox? To what degree should we care for ourselves—and
why is it important to do so? Can we live out Jesus’ call to self-denial while
also living a healthy, balanced life? The tension between self-love and
self-denial is not easy to sort out. How do you care for yourself—body and
soul—in God-honoring ways? What do you see as the right balance between
self-love and self-denial?
The
bottom line in servant leadership isn’t how far we advance ourselves, but how
far we advance others. We must do the things that God would have us do. This
can only be achieved INTENTIONALLY.
Serve
joyfully, not out of compulsion or for a desire to be significant in the eyes
of others. Serve as Jesus would have you serve.
An award-winning writer and frequent
conference speaker, Shirley Raye Redmond is the author of three inspirational
novels, as well as two dozen children’s books, including LEWIS & CLARK: A
PRAIRIE DOG FOR THE PRESIDENT (Random House), which was a Children’s Book of
the Month Club selection. Her book, Courageous World Changers: 50 True Stories
of Women of God will be released by Harvest House in January. Touch bases at shirleyrayeredmond.com or
Facebook
Serving for the right reasons is important. Serve others to show the love of God, not to boast about what we are doing. Yes, serve joyfully.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you. You're so right.
ReplyDeleteServing others is a honor not to gain recognition but because of God's love and command to care for others. Thank you for this lovely devotional thoughtm, Shirley.
ReplyDelete