Service Day 2: A Servant’s Heart by Leslie VanBuskirk

Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,  but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross!!
                     – Philippians 2:3-8 2:3

A servant’s heart…..what exactly does that mean? I could list many examples of “service opportunities” and still miss the point of what Jesus wants us to understand about servanthood. In our culture we often reduce “service to others” to something that looks good on our resume. A “good” resume must contain several examples of participation in service organizations. Now this is not necessarily bad, because whatever the reason we become involved in service to others, we can be changed by it. I can’t help but believe, though, that God wants to be more than a blurb on our resume of life!

Jesus personified servanthood while he lived among us. His every thought, word, and action demonstrated how to be a servant. As our relationship with God deepens through prayer, mediation on His word, and time spent with other growing Christians, we have the opportunity to see that service to God is what we are to be about…..constantly. It is a change of heart. It is how we approach every decision we make everyday. God placed within us the innate ability to see the world through the lenses of how we can serve but those lenses have to be cleaned often to rid them of the haze that is formed when “the world” gets in the way. We can clean those lenses by deepening our relationship and our commitment to God daily. When we serve others, we are fulfilling God’s plan for our creation.

PRAYER: Dear God, Enter our hearts and show us how to follow the example provided by Jesus. Help us to be aware everyday of how we can serve You by serving others. In Christ’s name, Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Open our hearts today to perceive the opportunities to serve that God has placed in our paths. 

written by Leslie VanBuskirk

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