What Is Objectionable About Being a Servant?

Whether work is perceived as fulfilling and purposeful or as drudgery and entrapment is a choice. Fellow employees and supervisors may be viewed with contempt and resentment or as individuals God has placed in my life to teach me how to be a servant.

The idea of being a servant may be hard to swallow because both our goal and attitude are to be an authority figure. What isn’t given any honest consideration is how do I measure up as a servant? The answer depends on how I personally define servanthood.

Servanthood has traditionally carried the overtone of being under the authority of others. From a Christian’s viewpoint, being a servant of God is the most blessed position a person could hope to attain. 

So your mindset will be that as I serve God with humility and thanksgiving, I am privileged to also be available to serve others. God will supply you with patience and humility to be a servant to others.

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You were chosen to be free. ... Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love.

~Galatians 5:13 Contemporary English Version

For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 

~Hebrews 6:10 New International Version 

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Is Happiness Sustainable?

Would it be safe to say that everyone, with few exceptions, wants to be happy? Yet happy people tend to find it difficult to maintain a constant, happy disposition. Some think happiness exists only where anxiety and worry are nonexistent. Others, however, equate happiness with perfect peace, even in the presence of conflict and turmoil.

With maturity we see that happiness can co-exist with responsibility and obligations. Happiness doesn’t have to be extinguished by the existence of disappointment and conflict. Happiness is sustainable by knowing those I love are safe and productive and that the boundaries I’ve set for my life are reliable and secure.

Centering your life in a loving relationship with God and the Lord Jesus Christ gives you a greater capacity for tolerating life’s uncertainties. Listen to Isaiah 26:3: "You, Lord, will give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you." This confidence is available to you as you seek God's way to happiness.  

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Jesus: “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.”

~John 15:10-11 New Living Translation

You love him [Christ], even though you have never seen him; though not seeing him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself. And your further reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

~1 Peter 1:8-9 The Living Bible

Rescued to Rescue

To be liberated means freedom from bondage. Nelson Mandela, the South African statesman, knew what it meant to be liberated. He spent twenty-five years in prison on charges that were political. I’m sure there were days when discouragement ruled, but deep within himself resided hope which served as a bridge to keep despair at bay. 

Bondage can originate from a crippling disease, financial obligations, lack of employment or an oppressive relationship. Liberation is the bridge that crosses the expanse of bondage, from whatever its source.

Listen to Dag Hammarskjold, former Secretary General of the United Nations, as he stated clearly what we can do for others and ourselves: “The price you must pay for your own liberation through another’s sacrifice is that you, in turn, must be willing to liberate in the same way, irrespective of the consequence to yourself.” What a challenge! We gladly accept what Christ did to liberate us, but we must be willing to offer that bridge to others so they can come across. 

The Foundation for our Values: Jesus' Commands - Part 3

In defining the Golden Rule someone sarcastically responded, "Do unto others before they do it to you." However, Jesus taught in Matthew 7:12, "In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you." Galatians 5:13 follows with, "You’ve been given freedom to love and serve others. Remember, the whole Law can be summed up with ‘love others as you love yourself.’"

It's not uncommon even for Christians to disregard Jesus’ commands. The issue for so many could be that they find it impossible to love themselves because of self-contempt, guilt, or misunderstanding of how to appropriately love one' self.

Personal values define how you live or if the Golden Rule is applied to your daily life. In his book, The Methods of Ethics, Henry Sidgwick tells us, "Reason shows me that if my happiness is desirable and good, the equal happiness of any other person must also be equally desirable." God has given us wonderful guidelines for managing ourselves and our relationships.