Sometimes you forget who you are. The day begins and there are responsibilities upon you. Whether it be as ordinary as fixing a meal and cleaning up from the night before, or whether it is as stressful as traveling to an airport to fly out of town for an important meeting, you are usually met with expectations before you get out of your own house. The rat-race occurs at various speeds and through different labyrinths but, no matter if you are CEO or a solitary widow, life has a way of creating fogginess concerning our identity. Listen to what the prophet said:
“And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant…” – Isaiah 49:5 {ESV}
I’m not going to write as much as I typically do this morning. There is no desire for me to load you down with much to consider. Today’s goal is to ask you to consider your servanthood to God which arches over every other demand in life that tries to force a different identity upon you. You may be a file clerk but you are a servant of God. Accountants are servants of God and so are stay-at-home moms. Hairdressers and heavy equipment operators are the servants of God. You’ll locate the servants of God in hospital beds, stricken by sickness; you’ll also find servants wearing white lab coats over medical scrubs taking care of patients in the same hospital. Teachers and administrators in public schools and Christian colleges can remember today that they were born to serve their God. The anxious and pressured, the cool and calm, the bold and the brave alongside the meek and the mild…take comfort, one and all, you are God’s servants.
Servants aren’t called to make things happen. They are called to know their assignments and to complete them.
Servants aren’t allowed the credit for a job well done. They were only accomplishing what their Master gave them as their duties.
Servants are not to succumb to the pressures attached to their lives. They are to seek to know the Master’s will and to ask Him for supply to accomplish it.
Servants aren’t responsible for the eventual outcome, only for faithful engagement in their own roles in the process.
Servants are supposed to be tired…regularly, but not burned-out. They do not seek ease, leisure nor entertainment as their highest aims. Their Master is gracious but He has high expectations of His own.
Servants sing praise, not croak complaints.
Servants aren’t looking to the horizon for something spectacular to do for the Master. They find His will in front of them and busy themselves with the daily allotment of delegated opportunity.
Servants take their core satisfaction in pleasing their Master in a way that reflects well upon Him. When this occurs, they are supremely pleased.
I suppose I’ve said enough in my attempt to remind you who we are today. We are not the prime focus of our lives. We are not expected of God to hold the reins. We are not commanded to produce results on our own. We are not to concern ourselves with how others perceive us as long as we walk with Christ. We are not lessened by our weaknesses or failures nor are we increased by our strengths and accomplishments. We are fully His and He has chosen us before time not only to be His sons and daughters…but to be His servants.
awesome post. I had a quick question. just wanted to get your perspective on an issue. Concerts?? I know that things are to be to God but i just came from reading this
https://tinyurl.com/7tcbyr9
and it talked about using concerts as a witnessing tool??? idk. I’m just trying to get your perspective. you seem friendly enough to give it lol 🙂
sincerely,
john 🙂
John, for me it is not an either/or situation. I think much of my answer would depend on questions like: Who is the musical group being considered? Are they faithful to a local church or have they gotten “past the local church thing’? Is it a business arrangement or are they coming to serve (I once was told by a man looking to have a concert at our church that he needed the sanctuary temperature set to a certain degree and 20 ounces of Sprite on ice on the platform for him to drink) ? I also believe it is important to consider the church culture and how the congregation responds to concerts – will it be edifying, will it be a stumbling block, is it supposed to be a time of worship or is it a time dedicated to winning the unsaved? My greatest hesitation in your original question above is when you mentioned a concert as a witnessing tool. It is only the Holy Spirit’s use of the Word that brings about faith in an unbeliever’s heart. Certainly God is not limited in how He gets His truth across to a needy soul but I’m not confident that a Christian rock concert is a method i would use to seek to reach the lost. If an evangelist is present to share god’s truth about sin and salvation, I don’t have an issue with music also being a part of the strategy to confront the unsaved with their need to repent. I recognize, however, that spiritual/Christian music in scripture is seen as something tightly reserved for the redeemed, not for the unsaved. This is the only area of your question where a caution flag arises for me. If a group of believers want to have gifted musicians and vocalists in for an edifying, encouraging time of music then I’m all for that. Hope this helps.