The Servants and the Slaves in Christ Jesus!

‘Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”’ – Matthew 20:25-28 NIV

Most of us like to be served, so we hire servants and slaves or at least thinking about hiring them. This is because we are able to order them around, even though we have to sacrifice our money for them. We might even think about getting into higher positions than we already are, due to the fact that others might honor and serve us. Therefore, we work very diligently from beginning level in whatever we are doing, so bosses and leaders might offer us better positions. The main reason for these is that we are lazy physically and spiritually. All we want is to make our lives comfortable and peaceful in the future.

However, the kingdom world is much different and completely opposite to the natural world about how we think of being served by others. Although God was mighty God, He sent His beloved Son, Jesus Christ as an image of Himself, into the world to crucify Himself on the cross as an atonement of our sins. This is because He has loved us so much that He wanted to save us from sin and death and give us eternal life through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 8:9), so we might not have to face condemnation and the wrath of God at the end of the age (John 3:36). To be more specific, God has wanted to bring and restore us back to His kingdom so that He had to sacrifice His only beloved Son, in order to save us (John 3:16-17). In fact, Jesus Christ was raised three days later after His crucifixion (Luke 24:4-7) and sat the right hand of God, so that He might be the Lord all over the world (Philippians 2:6-11; Colossians 1:15-20). Furthermore, God has poured His Spirit into us, after Christ’s resurrection, as an advocate, guidance, and counselor to help us to walk in the truth with God until the end of the age (John 16:7-15).

Since all of us have been created to be image of God (Genesis 1:27), we are called to serve others physically as well as spiritually (Matthew 20:25-28). Galatians 5:13 states that we are not free to indulge our selfish gain but to serve others in love. “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12) Therefore, let us be like slaves and servants to one another—whether it would be physically or spiritually—as each of us are members of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5)

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. (Ephesians 6:5-8)

Although I have some disabilities that I cannot do every kind of volunteering work and cannot preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ with my mouth properly, I am more than thankful to have knowledge of God and power of the Spirit of God within me that I have passion to preach the word of God through writing. While I am writing devotional, I am amazed by my writing and how much that I can write, to be honest. However, I do not plan to take credit from others for myself because I write devotionals for the glory of God. Because I have this spiritual gift, I plan to become Christian Writer.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11)