Being a Servant

During the last week or so I have been struck by a verse in Phillipians. Phillipians 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing. It has been reinforced by one of the verses preceding it Phillipians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Those two verses have completely changed my thought process. Jesus came to Earth to be a servant to sinners. He came to be the lowliest of low. He was spit on, stoned, beaten, flogged, persecuted, and crucified. He did not argue or complain. He did none of these things to gain attention to himself. If he had wanted to, He could have done many more miraculous things including stepping off the cross, but He did what the Father wanted Him to do. I can't begin to tell of all the times that I've complained or argued with something that I just didn't see the logic in. The number of times where the authority in my life didn't make sense to me. What is worse, however, is I can't describe the number of times where I have tried to be a servant only so that I can draw attention to myself.

There was a point the other day where I had to do a few things that were rather difficult and were pretty labor intensive that nobody else had to do. I knew that if I simply said something about it, I would get sympathy and then I could shrug it off as nothing, when really all I wanted was attention. That is the furthest thing from being a servant, because the only thing I'm serving in that moment is myself. To be a servant we must take on the lowliest position whatever that is. Sometimes it is not the person handing out food at a homeless shelter, sometimes it is the person who is actually eating with the homeless, because in that moment you step down out of your comfort zone and cease to think about yourself. These verses have really hit home with me. I know that I still fail at this and still use times of serving to gain the approval of others, but I hope that with a constant reminder of these verses that I will be able to remember the true point of being a servant, that I will be able to do everything out of Love for God.