Being a Humble Servant
“Whoever wants to be a leader must be a servant, just as the Son of man came to serve others.”
Matthew 20:26-28
In the past, we have talked about how God wants you to succeed in everything you do. He also wants us to be servants.
The word servant is mentioned in the bible at least 2337 times. Coincidence? I don’t think so. God new that we would be reluctant to be a servant that’s why he tried to pound it into your head. Over two thousand times!
What did Jesus mean when he said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”? Mark 9:35. He wasn’t saying that you shouldn’t try. He definitely wasn’t saying to give up and be last at everything you do. He was saying that you should be putting others in front of you. Making sure that they are taken care of before you take care of yourself.
Ever since I was a young child I can remember at family gatherings, there always seemed to be a fight for who would be the last one to go through the line to eat. Would it be grandpa, dad, my uncle, or my grandma? They were all waiting to make sure that everyone else made it through at least once before they would fill their plates. (Of course there was always enough food, my family likes to be prepared to feed an army, or a couple of teenagers they seem to eat about the same amount of food. Lol).
The truth is that’s not really, what Jesus meant. The real servant here were the ones helping everyone else get their plates filled. The ones who after dinner didn’t hesitate to fill the sink with water and start washing. Those are the real servants. They didn’t do it for the glory; they did it because it needed to be done. In addition, they did it without complaining, most of the time.
Being a servant doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to get down on your knees and scrub the floor. You can be a servant at any stage in life and at any position, you hold. Being a servant means that you put others first. You make sure that others are taken care of before you tend to yourself. Not only that but you help them when they need it.
As a parent, being a servant might be cooking dinner, washing clothes, or taking your kids to their activities. It also might be being quiet when your child is struggling so that they can learn how to problem solve on their own. It might be not giving direct orders but allowing them to fall so that they can learn. Of course, you will be there to help them get back up, dust off, and learn the lesson.
As a Christian being a servant means that, you pray constantly. Pray for God to help show you how he needs you to serve him. We all serve in different ways. For me one way I serve is by writing blogs and devotionals every week. I serve by having scriptures at the bottom of every webpage. By not being afraid to talk about God, no matter who am around. We all serve in different ways, and that’s a GREAT thing.
There are many ways that you can be a servant. Take a few moments and think of ways for you be a servant today. What were they? How can you accomplish them today even better than you did yesterday? Do this exercise every day this week and see if it opens your eyes to just how you serve others.
Prayer
Lord today we come to you on our knees asking that you help us to see how we can better serve you. We come to asking that you take a few moments out of your busy day to show us exactly what you need. Then God we ask you for the courage to go out into the world and serve you the way you want is to. We pray God for your guidance and wisdom in every aspect of our lives. We are thankful that you allow us to serve others. We are thankful that you give us those opportunities. We pray that you would help all of those around us who might not fully understand what being a servant really is. Help them to see how being a servant is the highest honor we could ever ask for. Lord thank you for the wonderful title of SERVANT. Thank you for your love.
Amen
Will you pray with us?
Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation
All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel
For all military personal serving our country and their families
Those in Leadership positions throughout the world
Prayer
Lord, today we come to you with HAPPY hearts. We are so grateful that you give us the opportunity to change the lives of those around us. We are grateful that you give us the wisdom to change our lives and the lives of those around us. And you make it so simple. We can do it with a single smile. God today I would ask that you help us to smile more. The next time we see someone down, help us to smile for them. The next time we are down, help us to remember that you gave us the best gift ever. The ability to know you, your son, and the holy spirit. God, we are so grateful for everything you give us.
We ask all these things in your Precious Son's Name
Amen
A Little More
The other day I got a call from one of our clients.
I love talking to our clients so I always smile when I answer the phone.
“Hey Dan, one of my drivers is pulled over and they are saying that our permit doesn’t cover what we weigh. Isn’t that why we hire your team to make sure that these things don’t happen!”
My smile immediately vanished.
I was shocked because my team is amazing. and it’s not like them to miss something like 20,000 lbs on a permit.
So, I asked him, “Who have you been working with, and who was the one who called our team to get the permit?”
To get to the bottom of the problem I needed the details.
They gave me the details.
My next call was to my team. Then after I got the details I got them started on getting new permits to get the problem fixed. I’m a solutions guy, not an excuses guy.
But I NEED to know the real reason why it happened so that we can fix the issue.
My next call was to the driver so that I could see exactly what happened.
I knew he was going to be upset. He was pulled over and they were going to give him a HUGE ticket. I wouldn’t be happy either.
so……
I made sure not to smile when I made the call. I had a serious look on my face. As we chatted I learned that he was the person who gave his weight to our team. I asked where he got the weights from and how in the world they were off by over 20K lbs!
That’s when he told me that he might have gotten the wrong scale ticket from the weigh station where he originally weighed.
Immediately my heart leapt with joy, this is NOT our fault!
Now to get the problem resolved and get this driver back on the road was my only goal. I was not going to assign blame or make anyone feel bad.
Hey, we all make mistakes. I do it multiple times every single day.
The owner of the company shot me a text. I'm getting permits from the big guys. They won’t make these mistakes that cost me time and $$$$$.
No problem. Let me know if you need anything. We are here to help.
Well……..
After they called the “BIG Guys” they called me about 30 minutes later.
Hey, we can’t get an Idaho permit until Monday. It’s Friday night. And we need to drop this load off tomorrow afternoon.
I told him that I would NOT make any promises.
But my team went to work!
Guess what????
We got the permits that the “BIG Guys” couldn’t get.
My team had the Idaho permit in less than 20 minutes. For the right weight this time.
Here’s the point of all this.
When things don’t go right, smile. I have taught my whole team this.
That right there is how we got the permits. They smiled as they worked and it didn’t take any time at all.
Ok, there might be a little knowledge that went into this too. Lol
Next time you need anything DOT, don’t call the “Big Guys” , call the team who can get it done!
Dan Greer
