Daily Devotional

Word of the Day

Willingness of a Servant's Heart

Paul was writing to the Corinthians because of their spiritual pride. They were puffed up in their gifts. They were puffed up in their own estimation of their spirituality and their pursuit of God. "Nobody else loves God like I do. Nobody else is as gifted as I am. Look at me--I'm the most spiritual among you. Listen to how much I talk in tongues. Listen to how fluent my oratory is as I bring forth prophetic utterances. Look at my life of faith." It was a continual putting forth of self in the Body of Christ. In the guise of holiness, spiritual pursuit, spiritual service and ministry, men were seeking praise, position and power. To put these things back in order, Paul said, "You're missing the whole point of why the gospel was brought to you and what the true power of God is in a community of believers. It's not the projecting of self. It's not the seeking of position, but it's seeking the servant's heart." Remember that the Head of the Church said, "The greatest among us is servant of all" (Mark 10:44). The greatest is the one who's willing to be available for whatever has to be done to edify the Body and bring glory to God.

Servant of all doesn't mean that you run over twelve people, pushing your way in front of them, to pour the cup of coffee. You just injured twelve people on the way to humble yourself. It's doing what needs to be done as you're asked, as God gives you opportunity. It's in the heart motive of not vaunting ourselves, of not needing to do anything. "I've got to serve!" Some of your greatest service can just be doing nothing but being available--a servant's heart. Wait on God, and God, by His Spirit, through His placed gifts in the Church, will orchestrate the Body to the glory of God as it needs to be. Humility is a readiness, a willingness, to do whatever needs to be done to bring God glory at this moment. Sometimes that humility and that servant's heart will have you scrubbing the bathroom floors, and sometimes it'll have you teaching at the prison. It can be very multifaceted. It's an attitude. It's a spirit of submission to His headship. It's a willingness to flow in the Body to wherever the need is.

Paul said that love is not puffed up; it's not inflated with its own sense of importance. We forget that what we have we've received of the Lord. As a Christian I have one way to approach anything and everything that you possess in life--it's a gift of God. What I have God has given me. I can't boast in anything that I've accomplished because God has done it. The race is not to the swift; God has blessed me! Some of the best athletes are not the ones that are the stars. Some of the best athletes never made it to the Hall of Fame. We as believers understand it's not fate; God has chosen this path for us. What I have or do not have is of the Lord. So being puffed up is either thinking of ourselves more highly because of what we have or thinking of ourselves more highly through discontentment--"I should have that." It creates another force in us: envy. Love is not envious of others that are around us - what they have or what they've accomplished. "Why shouldn't I have received that? How come I don't get that recognition?" Love never manifests itself in those ways.

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