Honest Service

“and which of you, having a servant plowing and tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘come at once and sit down and eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded of him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you were commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” -Luke 17:7-10

I think in my head so many times I dress up this idea of servanthood. I get it in my head that my serving is something so grand and special and with that mindset the “humble” servant can easily become the prideful one. You begin to serve others not for their benefit but rather your own. You want people to think highly of you so you serve and serve and do it unto self instead of unto Jesus. In my life, I’ve fallen into this far too many times- honestly, I’d say I am the master of a false servanthood. And I’ll be the first to say that it’s easy to fall into and then continue to the point where it becomes a routine and habitual thing. Serving is all fun and games until you’re actually treated like a servant and don’t receive the praise you’re working for.

When a servant is serving, they are simply doing their job. Nothing special. They aren’t going the extra mile or being “oh so humble”- they are doing just what they ought to have done in the first place. It’s the bare minimum- literally what is required of you.

I think pride has a very easy door to enter in when a Christian looks back at their life and sees all the things they did for Christ and how long they walked with him. But is that special? We are CREATED to glorify God. We are called to live as bondservants of Christ- a lifelong servanthood chosen by their own freewill. This is a truly humbling thing but yet we selfish can take such a selfless thing as serving and make it about ourselves. I want my service to be honest and not dependent on what I can get out of it but rather what I GET TO give.