“For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Luke 22:27 (NIV)
Servants don’t have a whole lot of rights. They are not in a position to choose what they want to do. The role of a servant is to see what needs to be done and do it, to the best of his or her ability.
A seasoned pastor once spoke about the change he had seen in his own heart through his years in ministry: “When I was young, I offered all that I am and all that I have to Christ. The only thing I wanted was to be useful. But as the years went by, I began to develop a list of conditions.”
He began to list what they were: He wanted to serve, as long as it wasn’t overseas. He wanted to serve, as long as it was in a growing church. He wanted to serve, as long as he was free to pursue further studies.
Then one day God spoke to his heart, and the man said, “When did I start writing the agenda? How did I move away from the place of saying to Christ, ‘Here am I, Lord, wholly available to you’”?
It is so easy to put ourselves in the position of the master and to go through life asking the question: What would I like to do? Thank God that Jesus was focused on the question: “What needs to be done?” in the Garden of Gethsemane. He came among us as one who serves.
Have you put yourself in the position of the master or the servant?