Servanthood

How often do we stop to be a servant to someone? How often do we stop what we’re doing to bless someone else, whether that be getting them a glass of water, letting them talk and process, making a meal, giving a smile, babysitting their little ones, and so much more. On the scale of one to ten, how good would you say believers are doing at being servants here on this earth? 

In Matthew 10:45, Jesus says to his closest disciples, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Jesus, God’s Son, gave up authority, power, influence, position, and His beloved Father’s side to come serve His creation. Think about that for a minute. If you created a world of mud creatures, would you EVER imagine becoming one of them to spend your entire life teaching and healing them? If you don’t like that idea, imagine getting brutally killed after all the time and energy you put towards serving them every day? That’s what Jesus did for you. He came to this earth from His home to serve, bless, and to reveal His Father - God - to the human race. And all the thanks that Jesus got for all He did was to be brutally killed on a cross after being beaten and whipped with a crown of thorns cruelly smashed on His head. If Jesus saw it as worth it to come down to earth to do all that out of pure love for us so that we could know God, what about you? What if you served the people around you from a heart of love so that others can see Jesus through you? What would that look like?

My sister and her four housemates have a little bit of a crazy house. There’s always random projects going on, and with all the different work schedules, people are in and out. On top of that, they have two little foster care girls that they take care of. As soon as they found out about me wanting to learn more about how to take care of kids, they wanted me to come live with them and help with the girls. I was on board with the idea because ever since I was little, I have wanted to work with or build an orphanage overseas, and going to help with the foster girls would give me experience in a different way than I’ve ever had before. I’ve done kid’s camps, babysitting, tutoring, and have had lots of interactions with kids my entire life. This experience with the foster girls would be another feather in my hat towards that dream.

On top of all their different schedules, redoing their home, community projects, they had two little girls that needed lots of love and attention. I didn’t have a lot going on at home, and so it worked out great to go and help them out. I said yes to going. My goal was to be there for two weeks and see what happened. Would I hate it or love it? I felt like I was getting my feet wet in a whole different pool. Where would this take me?

Before I left my parent’s house, I was spending some time with Jesus one morning, and I really felt like He wanted me to go there not only to help with the girls but to be a servant to them in different ways as well. So I went and had the attitude of a servant given to me through times with Jesus.

Two weeks later, I’m back home in my parent’s house thinking about my visit there. For me, growing up doing a lot of ministry and helping people out, it wasn’t hard to enjoy my time there - I’ve learned to love serving people. It was pretty crazy and eye-opening to see Jesus change my heart attitude from “serve myself” to “serve those around you.” My challenge now is this: I can either forget about that time and go back to serving myself, or I can build on my time there and keep serving Jesus wherever He puts me next, whether that is at home or back at their house.

One final thought I want to leave with you before my challenge. Sometimes when we are always giving to others and serving them, we can find ourselves feeling empty inside. But here’s the thing. Jesus has *way* more than enough love and energy to give you. He is the One you get to fill up your love bucket with - and it’s beautiful because that’s the way He meant it to be. It might seem crazy to always have this mindset of servitude, but when you serve others and give of yourself, people see Jesus - and that’s so cool and what Jesus wants you to do! You are fulfilling part of your purpose here on earth: to make Jesus’ name known.

I want to challenge you to ask God to give you a servant’s heart in your everyday life. Being a servant can look differently for different people, but our heart attitude is the most important. What are your motives - taking from the people around you or giving to them from a heart of love? In whatever your life is filled up with, how can you have more of a servant’s heart towards others? Go out and show the world who Jesus is through your service and your heart to help others!!

-Bethany Mellas