Day 34: Thinking like a servant

..::*+ Small Talk +*::..
A nice Bible quote given by my mentor to me:

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
2 Timothy 4:12

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Day 34: Thinking like a servant

God always interested in why we do something rather than in what we do. Attitude counts more than achievements. This is why we need to think like a servant of God.
Servants think more about others than about themselves. They give priority to other people than themselves. This is true humility.

Not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less.
Rick Warren – The Purpose Driven Life

Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
Philippians 2:4 The Message

We stop focusing on our own needs and start to be aware of the needs around us. Jesus himself is the best example of this:

...but made himself [Jesus] nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
Philippians 2:7

Jesus made himself nothing to be a servant. You can’t, therefore, be a servant if you are full of yourself. However, this is not what happened to this world. Many serve to get others to like us, to be admired, or to achieve certain personal goals. This is manipulation. The funny thing is that some even make barter-system bargain with God: “I’ll do this for you God, if you do something for me.” How funny is that, no? A servant bargains with the Master. This is more like you are the master than the servant.

The quality of self-forgetfulness is rare. Humility is a daily struggle, a lesson that we must relearn over and over again to overcome our selfish nature. Today you might overcome it, but tomorrow you might fall under it. However don’t be disappointed over it. These are the chances for you to practice your servanthood. Remember, self-denial is the core of servanthood.

If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life.
Matthew 5:41 The Message

Servant thinks like stewards, not owners.

Servanthood and stewardship is together, since God expects us to be trustworthy in both.
Rick Warren – The Purpose Driven Life

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
1 Corinthians 4:2

How well are you in handling the resources that God entrusted to you? Are you using them, or just hide them, just like the Story of Talents?

Out of all, money has the greatest potential to replace God in our life. After-I-achieve-my-financial-goal-then-I-will-serve-God decision is foolish. Failing to use wealth for God’s glory is a sin. In Bible God uses money to test our faithfulness as a servant.

If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
Luke 16:11

Rick Warren talked again about the Kingdom Builders and Wealth Builders. Both are gifted at making money. But only the Kingdom Builders change the rules of the game – they don’t just earn money for themselves no matter how much they make, they use the wealth to fund God’s churches and their missions in the world.

Servants think about their work, not what others are doing. They don’t go around and compare their works with each other. They don’t go around and criticize others. They don’t go around and compete with other servants of God. We are all in the same team; we all have the same goals; we all are given different assignments; we all are uniquely shaped. Why do we need to compete with one and another?

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Galatians 5:26

And besides, who are we to compare and criticize and provoke others? Who are we to evaluate the Master’s other servants?

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.
Romans 14:4

Your service for Christ is never wasted regardless of what others say.

Servants base their identity in Christ. We need not to prove our worth, for we are all loved and accepted by grace. All we need is to settle our identity in Christ. Do not fear of exposure of our weaknesses to others, because you will end up needing other people’s approval.

When we base our worth and identity on our relationship to Christ, we are freed from the expectations of others, and that allows us to really serve them best.
Rick Warren – The Purpose Driven Life

We need not to show off our awards to validate our works. Status is unnecessary in servanthood. You need not to be ranked, and your worth is not measured by your achievements.

For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
2 Corinthians 10:18

Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. They enjoy helping others, doing ministry and meeting the needs of others. We serve because we are grateful for God’s grace and we love our God. We know serving is the highest use of life. We also know that God has promised reward for us. He will not forget how hard we have worked to show our love towards him.

Vincent