Servant

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

Gentlemen,

Have we forgotten our place?

Have we forgotten our role in life and the responsibility we carry?

It seems we have become weak, sedated by decadence and pleasure.

We are told comfort is the key to happiness.

We are told strong men are dangerous; a threat to society.

We are told we must toil endlessly to surround ourselves with material wealth like a dragon hordes its gold.

We are told to follow our heart, though it can so easily be deceived by lies.

And what do we stand for now?

We bow to celebrities, dreaming of being more like them.

We are glued to the screen, worshipping athletes and actors.

Tell me this:

When did watching TV series and movies become a hobby?

When did we start spending endless hours playing video games?

When did our bodies begin to grow weak?

We cannot run five miles. We cannot perform twenty push-ups.

Instead, we boast our indulgence.

We have exchanged a mantle of honor and virtue for a cloak of fragility and cowardice.

Nothing of this resembles what a man should be. We were not created to linger in comfort, avoiding hardship, constantly denying that any higher purpose could be resting on our shoulders. (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations)

What, then, is asked of us? Who are we called to be?

Servants.

Yes, servants. That is one of the roles we are to embody.

To look around, only asking ‘what can I give’ without ever thinking about what there is to gain, that is service. To give up material possessions as if they were never my own, for they never were, is service. To see a person in need of love, in need of an ear to listen, or a shoulder to cry on and freely giving it, that is service.

So easily, we become focused on ourselves. We feel a void inside and want to fill it. ‘I want to be happy. I want to be successful. I want to be somebody.’

Do you hear the selfishness in those lines? Our pride may yell at us, saying, ‘You are above this! You are no servant but a King! They should treat you as such!’

Let me assure you: we are not above serving others.

This summer, I had the privilege of spending two weeks in a remote town in Alaska. I met the pastor of a small church there. He and I walked for hours, discussing faith, life, and God. He had a young family to care for and worked tirelessly with his Ekklesia (Greek for ‘gathering of those who believe in Jesus’). This pastor wanted to help everyone from the youngest child to the oldest grandpa in town grow in faith. An important man, you could say. Someone who has no time to spare for small, irrelevant tasks. And yet, where did I find him one Thursday afternoon? On his hands and knees in the dirt, pulling weeds in an old woman’s garden. That is service, and that act was not below him.

All my life, I have had the privilege of reading the bible. In the bible, it says that God sent his divine son to earth. A god lowered himself to become a man just like me. But not only that. He came to serve (Mark 10:45). Even beyond that, he lowered himself to the status of a convicted criminal, to be executed alongside others condemned to death.

A god became a man.

A king became a servant.

A life descended to the underworld.

If I am to become more Christ-like (Philippians 2:5), I must be a servant.