Today’s Devotional: The Destitution of Service
When you serve, do you do so without reservations?
In this devotional from My Utmost for his Highest, Oswald Chambers describes Jesus as a man who “‘outsocialized’ the socialists.” Jesus’ vision of servant-hood has no regard for personal and financial concerns. To be a servant of all means committing to serve God and His children without consideration for how it will affect you personally:
The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him by being the servants of others. Jesus Christ actually “out-socialized” the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something like washing the disciples’ feet— that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns— “What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.” All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God. But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.
Read the entire devotional at RBC.org.
Have you ever served freely, without reservation or condition? What would it take for you to be able to serve as freely as Paul?
