"Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant." Philippians 2: 6-7, NIV Since the Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols incident (amazing how God works!), I've been thinking about what servanthood really means. There have been several situations arise in my life over the last week also that keep coming back to servanthood or my own rights and way. When that happens, I know God is really wanting to drive a point home in me, LOL! In fact, when I sat down to write this article, I prayed as I always do, to be a conduit for God to use. The title popped into my head immediately after praying and I thought, "Oh no, not that again!". Our Sovereign God knows what part of us really needs work, doesn't He?! I've been through the book a Purpose Driven Life in a group home study. It was a pivotal point in my life and I did have some revelations during that 40 days of purpose. I just didn't know the road God would have me travel to fulfill my specific purpose and I never thought it would be what I'm doing now. I love that about God, how He directs our paths if we but allow Him to do His work in our lives. Servanthood hasn't been one of my strong points. I'm pretty independent and very much a loner too. I've always acted like an island unto myself UNTIL I went through the 40 days of purpose. Then things began changing and that change has been wrought about over and over through adversity and trials and many challenges. In fact, I'm neck deep in a few trials now but the wonderful part of it is knowing that God is in control. Okay, I digress -always trying to get out of the subject of servanthood . What I've realized is by God having me in a partly service oriented business -teaching others about holistic pet care - I'm learning that by putting others first, and truly serving them without expecting some kind of compensation in return, I'M the one who is blessed! I don't know what I would've done in the same situation as Ashley Smith was in (and I really hope I never am!), but she has taught us all a lot about being a servant. She could've done nothing but prepared to meet her Maker that day, but instead, she stepped out in faith and shared with a man who desperately needed to hear God's voice through her. I'm sure she was scared, I'm sure she wanted to find a way out of there, but she stepped aside (decreased) and allowed our Lord to take over. She became the servant we're all meant to be here in our earthly bodies. Putting others first, considering them better than ourselves. As I continue on this journey called life, and have many times prayed to decrease so that Jesus can increase, I'm learning that servanthood is really true success. |
