Unpopular Words

Over the years I have discovered a few very unpopular word. One of those words is so unpopular that I think many people would like to have it entirely removed from the English language, at least so far as it applies to them. It’s fine for this word to apply to others, but please, oh please, don’t ever attempt to apply this word to them!

Can you guess what that word is?

It’s the word “serve”.

I’ve been wondering why it is about that word that is so terribly offensive to some people, and I’ve come up with an idea. So, since this is the place where I publish my thoughts I thought I’d share this one with the world as well.

It seems that for everything beautiful God gave us the devil has come along with a counterfeit or a corruption of that item of beauty. God is love and tells us to acting lovingly, so the devil comes along and corrupts our concept of what love is and causes us to act selfishly. Jesus came to give life in abundance and Satan comes along to kill and destroy.

I think that is what Satan has done with the word “serve”. We have taken that entire concept that can bring us such joy and fulfillment and turned it around so that it seems beneath us and something we pay people to do. We almost associate it with things like cleaning the sewer. (Come to think of it, that may not be a bad way to think of it.)

But if we have a problem with the concept of serving we need to take a second look at Mark 10:45 where Jesus said “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

But wait! What is the word “even” there for? What is the significance of that word? Is Jesus really saying that all of us are to serve, and that if He, the Son of God, came to serve then we should be even more willing to serve? Reading it carefully we see that the message is exactly that.

So, why is it that so many church leaders act as though they have been given the right to stop serving? Sadly, it almost seems that some ministers believe that serving is something you graduate from when you become a paid staff person.

And here is where Satan has corrupted their thinking. Instead of serving they get the idea that serving is now beneath them, and what where they once had  a servant heart now they have become arrogant and want to rule and tell others what to do. Where does that kind of arrogance come from? It is very clear that it never came from Jesus! Well, if it didn’t come from Jesus then where does it come from? There can only be one answer to that question. Jesus told the parable of the enemy who got into a good field and planted thorns in the field of good wheat. That is what happened to those who now want to rule instead of serve. Satan has gotten into the good field and planted thorns, and the pure ground and the pure seed is now corrupted.

So watch out! Be on your guard! If you have a servant heart today be very careful that the enemy does not get in and destroy it. Look around you and see what that type of arrogance has done to others. They used to be nice people, but now nobody can stand them. It’s not surprising people can’t stand them because the truth is they don’t even like themselves.

So take care of yourself and don’t join them. Keep a humble heart and serve just like Jesus served and may our Lord grow your ministry and give you a great harvest.

Until next time,

Jim