Day34: Thinking Like a Servant

 Thinking Like a Servant

My servant Caleb thinks differently 

and follows me completely.

Numbers 14:24 (NCV) 

Think of yourselves the way 

Christ Jesus thought of himself.

Philippians. 2:5 (Msg)

Service starts in your mind.

To be a servant requires a mental shift, a change in your

attitudes. God is always more interested in why we do something

than in what we do. Attitudes count more than achievements.

King Amaziah lost God’s favor because “he did what was right in

the sight of the Lord, yet not with a true heart.” 1 Real servants serve

God with a mindset of five attitudes.

Servants think more about others than about themselves.

Servants focus on others, not themselves. This is true humility:

not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less. They

are self-forgetful. Paul said, “Forget yourselves long enough to lend a

helping hand.” 2 This is what it means to “lose your life”—

forgetting yourself in service to others. When we stop focusing on

our own needs, we become aware of the needs around us. 

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Jesus “emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant.” 3

When was the last time you emptied yourself for someone else’s

benefit? You can’t be a servant if you’re full of yourself. It’s only

when we forget ourselves that we do the things that deserve to be

remembered.

Unfortunately, a lot of our service is often self-serving. We

serve to get others to like us, to be admired, or to achieve our

own goals. That is manipulation, not ministry. The whole time

we’re really thinking about ourselves and how noble and

wonderful we are. Some people try to use service as a bargaining

tool with God: “I’ll do this for you God, if you’ll do something

for me.” Real servants don’t try to

use God for their purposes. They

let God use them for his purposes.

The quality of self-forgetfulness,

like faithfulness, is extremely rare.

Out of all the people Paul knew,

Timothy was the only example he

could point to.4 Thinking like a

servant is difficult because it challenges the basic problem of my

life: I am, by nature, selfish. I think most about me. That’s why

humility is a daily struggle, a lesson I must relearn over and over.

The opportunity to be a servant confronts me dozens of times a

day, in which I’m given the choice to decide between meeting my

needs or the needs of others. Self-denial is the core of servanthood.

We can measure our servant’s heart by how we respond when

others treat us like servants. How do you react when you’re taken

for granted, bossed around, or treated as an inferior? The Bible

says, “If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to

practice the servant life.” 5

Servants think like stewards, not owners. Servants

remember that God owns it all. In the Bible, a steward was a

servant entrusted to manage an estate. Joseph was this kind of

servant as a prisoner in Egypt. Potiphar entrusted Joseph with his

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Real servants don’t try to use

God for their purposes. They let

God use them for his purposes.

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home. Then the jailer entrusted Joseph with his jail. Eventually

Pharaoh entrusted the entire nation to him. Servanthood and

stewardship go together,6 since God expects us to be trustworthy

in both. The Bible says, “The one thing required of such servants is

that they be faithful to their master.” 7 How are you handling the

resources God has entrusted to you? 

To become a real servant you are going to have to settle the

issue of money in your life. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two

masters. . . . You cannot serve both God and Money.” 8 He didn’t say,

“You should not,” but “You cannot.” It is impossible. Living for

ministry and living for money are mutually exclusive goals. Which

one will you choose? If you’re a servant of God, you can’t

moonlight for yourself. All your time belongs to God. He insists

on exclusive allegiance, not part-time faithfulness.

Money has the greatest potential to replace God in your life.

More people are sidetracked from serving by materialism than by

anything else. They say, “After I achieve my financial goals, I’m

going to serve God.” That is a foolish decision they will regret for

eternity. When Jesus is your Master, money serves you, but if

money is your master, you become its slave. Wealth is certainly

not a sin, but failing to use it for God’s glory is. Servants of God

are always more concerned about ministry than money. 

The Bible is very clear: God uses money to test your

faithfulness as a servant. That is why Jesus talked more about

money than he did about either heaven or hell. He said, “If you

have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust

you with true riches?” 9 How you manage your money affects how

much God can bless your life. 

In chapter 31, I mentioned two kinds of people: Kingdom

Builders and Wealth Builders. Both are gifted at making a

business grow, making deals or sales, and making a profit. Wealth

Builders continue to amass wealth for themselves no matter how

much they make, but Kingdom Builders change the rules of the

game. They still try to make as much money as they can, but they

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do it in order to give it away. They use the wealth to fund God’s

church and its mission in the world.

At Saddleback Church, we have a group of CEOs and business

owners who are trying to make as much as they can so they can

give as much as they can to further the kingdom of God. I

encourage you to talk with your pastor and begin a Kingdom

Servants think about their work, not what others are

doing. They don’t compare, criticize, or compete with other

servants or ministries. They’re too busy doing the

work God has given them.

Competition between God’s servants is illogical

for many reasons: We’re all on the same team; our

goal is to make God look good, not ourselves;

we’ve been given different assignments; and we’re

all uniquely shaped. Paul said, “We will not

compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and

another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our

lives. Each of us is an original.” 10

There’s no place for petty jealousy between servants. When

you’re busy serving, you don’t have time to be critical. Any time

spent criticizing others is time that could be spent ministering.

When Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping

with the work, she lost her servant’s heart. Real servants don’t

complain of unfairness, don’t have pity-parties, and don’t resent

those not serving. They just trust God and keep serving.

It is not our job to evaluate the Master’s other servants. The

Bible says, “Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The Lord

will determine whether his servant has been successful.” 11 It is also

not our job to defend ourselves against criticism. Let your Master

handle it. Follow the example of Moses, who showed true

humility in the face of opposition, as did Nehemiah, whose

response to critics was simply, “My work is too important to stop

now and . . . visit with you.” 12

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DAY THIRTY-

FOUR:

THINKING

LIKE A

SERVANT

Builders’ group in your church. For help see appendix 2.

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If you serve like Jesus, you can expect to be criticized. The

world, and even much of the church, does not understand what

God values. One of the most beautiful acts of love shown to Jesus

was criticized by the disciples. Mary took the most valuable thing

she owned, expensive perfume, and poured it over Jesus. Her

lavish service was called “a waste” by the disciples, but Jesus called

it “significant,” 13 and that’s all that mattered. Your service for

Christ is never wasted regardless of what others say.

Servants base their identity in Christ. Because they

remember they are loved and accepted by grace, servants don’t

have to prove their worth. They willingly accept jobs that insecure

people would consider “beneath” them. One of the most

profound examples of serving from a secure self-image is Jesus’

washing the feet of his disciples. Washing feet was the equivalent

of being a shoeshine boy, a job devoid of status. But Jesus knew

who he was, so the task didn’t threaten his self-image. The Bible

says, “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power,

and that he had come from God . . . so he got up from the meal,

took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around

his waist.” 14

If you’re going to be a servant, you must settle

your identity in Christ. Only secure people can serve.

Insecure people are always worrying about how they appear

to others. They fear exposure of their weaknesses and hide

beneath layers of protective pride and pretensions. The more

insecure you are, the more you will want people to serve you, and

the more you will need their approval.

Henri Nouwen said, “In order to be of service to others we

have to die to them; that is, we have to give up measuring our

meaning and value with the yardstick of others. . . . thus we

become free to be compassionate.” When you base your worth

and identity on your relationship to Christ, you are freed from

the expectations of others, and that allows you to really serve

them best. 

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Servants don’t need to cover their walls with plaques and

awards to validate their work. They don’t insist on being

addressed by titles, and they don’t wrap themselves in robes of

superiority. Servants find status symbols unnecessary, and they

don’t measure their worth by their achievements. Paul said, “You

may brag about yourself, but the only approval that counts is the

Lord’s approval.” 15

If anyone had the chance of a lifetime to flaunt his connections

and “name-drop,” it was James, the half-brother of Jesus. He had

the credentials of growing up with Jesus as his brother. Yet, in

introducing his letter, he simply referred to himself as “a servant

of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 16 The closer you get to Jesus,

the less you need to promote yourself. 

Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an

obligation. They enjoy helping people, meeting needs, and

doing ministry. They “serve the Lord with gladness.” 17 Why do

they serve with gladness? Because they love the Lord, they’re

grateful for his grace, they know serving is the highest use of

life, and they know God has promised a reward. Jesus promised,

“The Father will honor and reward

anyone who serves me.” 18 Paul said,

“He will not forget how hard you

have worked for him and how you

have shown your love to him by

caring for other Christians.” 19

Imagine what could happen if

just 10 percent of all Christians in

the world got serious about their role as real servants. Imagine all

the good that could be done. Are you willing to be one of those

people? It doesn’t matter what your age is, God will use you if

you will begin to act and think like a servant. Albert Schweitzer

said, “The only really happy people are those who have learned

how to serve.”

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The closer you get to Jesus, 

the less you need 

to promote yourself. 

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Day Thirty-four

Thinking about My Purpose

Point to Ponder: To be a servant I must think like a

servant.

Verse to Remember: “Your attitude should be the same

as that of Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 2:5 (NIV)

Question to Consider: Am I usually more concerned

about being served or finding ways to serve others?

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