Happy Birthday to those that have and are serving in the United States Navy; 240 years old today!  Thank you for your service!

Pretty fall day, air is clear, sky is blue and Mt. Hood shines in all its majesty.

Mathew 20:26-27  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

²⁷ And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Servant, the very word brings up visions of people waiting on other people at their beck and call.  Go get this, do that they are commanded and must act with alacrity, enthusiastically performing the task commanded of them.

They have no life other than pleasing their master and doing what he says.  They must bow down and acknowledge the master as the all-powerful and one who must be obeyed or the servant suffers the consequences.

Thus does the world view servitude – and it often creeps into our thoughts – none of us like to feel we serve at the whims of others, must obey them at all costs, put aside our own dreams and desires and focus completely on our masters.

As a Police officer there were times someone who would tell me that I was a public servant and he was my boss.  That usually came when I was making an arrest or issuing a ticket, as if somehow they deserved special consideration, they were my boss and therefore I shouldn’t ‘bother them’ – the answer was usually the same, ‘yep, you and 12,000 other people who live here – which includes, by the way, my family and me.’

The term, servant, has a demeaning quality about it.  It shows that the person is at the bottom of a hierarchy and must yield to others before even thinking of oneself.

Christ knew this, yet, even though He was expecting these men to go out and preach His Gospel; even though He knew these men would be the leaders of His church, and would have to make decision and preach redemptive messages that aimed at allowing the Holy Spirit to condemn their hearts and bring them to Him; He made it clear that they must be the servant, that they must focus on serving people, not commanding people.

That can be very difficult.  Yet, that is His command.

There is a difference between boldness and impertinence.  There is a difference between confidence and arrogance.  There is a difference between serving and slavery. 

We are who we are; and as we serve Him, He uses who we are.

We are already seeing the candidates for the President’s office beating their chests, boasting of prowess and what they will do when elected.  Belittling others to make themselves look better.

That office should represent the highest example of servitude in the nation, and yet, we are expected to choose between men and women who are doing everything they can to show us that they are not servants, but leaders!

That isn’t any different than what other politicians proclaim as they run for office, national, state or local.  They are running because they believe (or at least most of them) they can do a better job than the next guy.  They have their agenda and they try to convince the voter that their way is the best way.

(That is the way of politics, and one of the reasons so many Christians have stayed out of the fray.  I am amazed at how many Christians I know that aren’t even registered to vote and by refusing to vote, they have allowed others to make decisions that have not been in the best interest of our nation.  Most are learning of their error, now, but is it too late?)

When we apply for a job, we do the same thing.  We want to put our best foot forward, we want to show our accomplishments and how our employment will benefit the business.  It isn’t a necessary thing to put down others, but we believe we must show that we are the better choice.

Such is the way of the world.

Jesus has said just that:  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.  Mathew 20:25

We hire ministers to lead our flock.  We expect them to be decisive and bold in their preaching, we may get upset when they hit a nerve or expose something as a sin that we hold dear, but none-the-less, we expect them to guide and teach us the ways of God.

But we also expect them to be humble and full of quiet wisdom – not an easy job and one that can only, truly, be filled by a person who has yielded their heart to God and is following the Holy Spirit. 

Not everyone can be a minister of God.  It is a calling from God and those that do not have that calling can fall.  Even those that are called must be very careful that they maintain that right relationship with God and do not become full of themselves and thus do things that benefit them, instead of leading their flock to righteousness.

All of us are called to the service of God, however, and we too must be wary of self-pride and learn to go about our lives in humble obedience to God.  It is not easy, but it is required.

whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant

If we desire to serve God to the fullest, to lead others to Him and teach others how to live for Him, we must be willing to do things that we may feel are ‘beneath’ us, that might even appear degrading.  But if we are to follow Christ, we must be willing to be as Jesus was, as He washed the feet of the disciples – one of the more debasing services of the times. 

Jesus was bold, but He was not impudent.  He was confident in His ministry, but not arrogant.  He was a servant, but not a slave.

He was the Son of God, but He submitted to Him to allow Himself to be humiliated, tortured and killed that we might have eternal life.  He was a servant, who did as God commanded Him; and His service demonstrated, to us, what God expects of us.

whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous