SERVANTHOOD
Pride is repelled by the idea of servanthood. Today everybody wants to be everything but a servant. A popular children's game in America is called "Masters of the Universe." But that is also becoming the theology of many Christians. We quote this Scripture, "Thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ" (Galatians 4:7). What Paul really is saying is that a son who has been taught correctly knows that he is legally the king's son with all rights, but he so loves his father he chooses the role of a servant. Paul also said he was "a servant of Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:1) and James called himself "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus" (James1:1).
A servant has no will of his own; his master's word is his will. The cross represents the death of all my own plans, my own ideas, desires, hopes and dreams. And most of all, it means the absolute death of my own will. This is true humility. "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). He had told His disciples, "My meat (fulfillment in life) is to do the will of him that sent me (John 4:34). In other words, “I refuse to take matters into My own hands. I wait to hear every direction from My Father!”
John wrote, "As he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Every true Christian must be willing to say, "I really want to do His will." But here is where we miss it. We set our hearts on something that we want, something that looks good, that sounds logical, but is not God's will. We will fast and pray and intercede. Cry a river of tears. Claim it. Quote the Bible. Get others to agree with us. One of the biggest traps to Christians is a good idea that is not God's mind, a good strategy which is not from Him, a well-conceived plan that is not His. Can your desire survive the cross? Can you walk away from it and die to it? You must be able to say with honesty, "Lord, maybe it's not the devil stopping me, but You. If this is not Your will, it could destroy me. I give it up to the cross. Do it Your way, Lord!"
A servant has no will of his own; his master's word is his will. The cross represents the death of all my own plans, my own ideas, desires, hopes and dreams. And most of all, it means the absolute death of my own will. This is true humility. "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). He had told His disciples, "My meat (fulfillment in life) is to do the will of him that sent me (John 4:34). In other words, “I refuse to take matters into My own hands. I wait to hear every direction from My Father!”
John wrote, "As he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Every true Christian must be willing to say, "I really want to do His will." But here is where we miss it. We set our hearts on something that we want, something that looks good, that sounds logical, but is not God's will. We will fast and pray and intercede. Cry a river of tears. Claim it. Quote the Bible. Get others to agree with us. One of the biggest traps to Christians is a good idea that is not God's mind, a good strategy which is not from Him, a well-conceived plan that is not His. Can your desire survive the cross? Can you walk away from it and die to it? You must be able to say with honesty, "Lord, maybe it's not the devil stopping me, but You. If this is not Your will, it could destroy me. I give it up to the cross. Do it Your way, Lord!"