Make Me a Servant

When you let your spiritual guard down, it is usually because you have begun to allow your faith in God to dry up. We need to learn to live with the Lord like every moment matters because it does. 
The Apostle Paul challenged the Corinthian church to run the race of faith with purpose in every step because to get lazy in our devotion to him is to lose our defensive edge against sin.
When we wander about on our own without the wonder of the Lord mapping our course, we could very well end up walking right into a trap of despair that just popped out of nowhere with not even a hint of a warning.  
Let me use an illustration to try to better communicate what I mean. When you imagine France and its scenic countryside, you might think of the picturesque villages, vineyards a-plenty and endless rolling green hills to drive through on your dream vacation in Europe.
But there’s one corner of this scenic country that no one has been allowed to enter for over a hundred years, it is known as the “Zone Rouge” translated into English as “The Red Zone.”
This forsaken territory, originally covering more than 460 square miles in the years following the Great War, is roughly the size of Paris. Even now, it is still strictly prohibited by law for the public to trespass on this territory.
It isn’t even available for agricultural use because there are still an inordinate amount of human remains and unexploded chemical munitions that have yet to be recovered from the battlefields of both world wars.
You can only enter there at your own great risk. The war may be over, but the warning signs are still all around us.
We believers have already been declared by God victorious over sin because of what Jesus has done for us. But that doesn’t eliminate the sin traps and dangerous pitfalls still lurking around every corner. Whether we fall into them or not is totally up to where we choose to walk and with kind of attitude we choose to travel. 
People have a tendency to put other human beings on pedestals. Christians aren’t exempt from making these mistakes. Just remember that even the most godly men and women are still just men and women.
It is when they start believing anything other than that when you can begin to predict with accuracy that it is not going to end well. Be careful what you wish for. You might even pray for God to make you successful, but you better understand ahead of time what the definition of that word really means.
As individuals can easily become addicted to drugs and alcohol, it doesn’t take long for many to get hooked on adrenaline. When you start looking for your temporary highs from the cheers of the crowd to keep you going rather than being satisfied to receive your permanent payment from the Lord at the end of the race, you are in trouble.
In the classic Steven Curtis Chapman song, “For the Sake of the Call,” the lyrics make it very clear that if a disciple is going to stay the course, he better be sure that it is a vertical voice that he responds too.
“We will abandon it all for the sake of the call. No other reason at all but the sake of the call; wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call. Nobody stood and applauded them, so they knew from the start. This road would not lead to fame. All they really knew for sure was Jesus had called to them. He said ‘Come follow Me, ’ and they came. With reckless abandon, they came.”
The same way you came to the Lord is the same way you should keep going, and that is by hanging on to God’s every word.
There is nothing confident about becoming too big for your britches. And if you have to resort to manipulation and manufacturing others to get respect, you will never get respect! If people only respect you to your face, it isn’t respect you are receiving. It’s a con game.
The definition of a “Rock Star” in our culture is to describe a person who behaves in an arrogant, rude, or obnoxious manner.
They live with the notion that they are better than everybody else and deserve every extra perk given under heaven.
Recently at a Christian event, the stage manager became panicked. The concert festival was more than an hour behind schedule.
Because of a city curfew, the power to the stage would be shut off promptly at 10 p.m. Each road manager was asked to have their artists cut some songs so that every artist invited would still get a chance to play.
One road manager defiantly refused and that left the promoter in a tough spot. A note was quickly penned and passed directly to the artist on stage between songs.
It read, “We’re running behind by more than an hour. Can you please cut a few songs? Thank you for understanding.”
The well-known Christian performer shouted in anger, “Get the **** off the stage.” “I’ve worked all kinds of concerts,” one crew guy would share later. “I’ve been treated badly before. I just didn’t expect this from a Christian artist.”
How do Christians become rock stars? How does this happen to the best-selling author, successful entrepreneur, widely read blogger, or mega-church pastor?
First, they buy into the broken model that making it means that they are the ones with the fame, the money, the power and the prestige. Secondly, they have no true accountability.
They may talk about the need to sacrifice and give to others from the stage while they personally shop for a pair of $200 skinny jeans without even a thought of humility.
Thirdly, nobody has the courage to tell them the truth. All they ever get is affirmation, no matter how badly they may be behaving.  Constant affirmation warps perspective and makes them believe that they are way more important than they really are. Anywhere that fame and wealth are the highest goals; you can be sure that authentic corrective relationships are in short supply.
If you don’t want to lose your way in this world; pray for a servant’s heart. Make sure it is God that you are really serving and not expecting the Lord to serve you.
God’s servants serve where they are. You don’t have to go half way around the world to find people in need. All you have to do is look at the person next to you.
Jesus is looking for servants who serve. Someday I want Jesus to say these words to me: “Well done good and faithful SERVANT.”
Don’t you want Jesus to say those words to you too? Develop a servant’s mentality. Have a determination to serve.
Commit to following God by doing what He says. Start serving today right where you are.
This world does not revolve around you. Everything that happens in the world is not about you. You are here to serve God and not the other way around.
Your pattern of thinking should reflect a servant mentality.
The question is, “Who do you think you are?” How does there need to be more servanthood and less looking to being served in your walk with God?
ED. NOTE: The author is senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Cape May Court House.