Just wondering... (about servants)

We have been so blessed since we’ve been back in the states, so glad to connect with churches and friends and some new gatherings to share about China and the people we love there.  We had lunch recently with three families who encouraged us so tremendously with their interest in what’s going on, what life is like for us there, and the needs of the people we love.  We are so grateful for many relationships and opportunities like this.  What a blessing to have the support of such intentional, thoughtful people!

When we share, we like to encourage people to live boldly for God’s kingdom here too, or however he may be leading them.  Sometimes as we’ve shared, I feel like I’m looking into blank eyes that have glazed over completely.   It’s as if someone’s spiked the coffee of our listener friends.  It was either a shot of “I’m glad you’re talking about China because there’s no way I’d ever want to live Radical for God in America” or maybe “That’s nice for you young people but I’ve worked hard all my life and I’ve earned my right to live for my comfort”  or possibly it was just one squirt of the devastatingly deceptive “Yea, I believe in God too, but He hasn’t called me to sacrifice anything.  I’m happy to define my life by my culture’s standard for success and my personal desires for pleasure.”

And my own coffee has been spiked too.  I know I don't see it so clearly, but it's true.   My culture has snuck in on me and I try to define my life with the most comfortable culture too.  There is good reason James tells us so many times, "Do not be deceived beloved...".  Oh Lord, give us your Truth and Wisdom according to your Living Word that we would not be deceived!

Yesterday morning we drove by a church marquis board with this message:  “Welcome to the servant’s quarters.”   Servants.  There's something that's not so easy to rule out from the range of possible for our lives.  We can all SERVE from where we are.  How sweet it would be to see a church body where everyone considered themselves servants of God regardless of their vocation or title.    I think it would be a praying church and a very active one in serving the needy and proclaiming the Gospel to the lost, and in demonstrating mercy and love for the broken and bruised in our world.  

So... what if all who called themselves God’s people, were God’s servants and not just his pretty pets to give goodies to?  What if all of us believers were actually lovers of God, glad servants of God?  What if we saw clearly that there are no dividing lines of class or geography or race among God’s people, but that we are all only the endlessly blessed, eternally glad, ceaselessly grateful united body of Christ?  What if we stood before Him with only his song on our hearts, full of unhindered, unashamed JOY?   What if we all abandoned our “rights” to live for ourselves....  and fled from the mud puddle playing of this world that we think is so fantastic (see CS Lewis, Mere Christianity).  

What does the Word tell us about being servants of God?  And what if the Word really was our Standard for determining what of our culture we’ll chew up and swallow down and what parts we’ll spit out?  What do servants look like, what do they live like, in a culture of luxury and self-indulgence?

The Word is packed with clarity and holds no punches on the topic.  Lord pierce me through with your true and living Word.  Change me by it.  Create and recreate me more and more in your image according to your Word.   

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell...anywhere else.    

Make me to crave the things of you oh God and make me a servant, glad!, to your glory!  Let my life be marked by giving not to impress you or earn points with you (that might be moralism, but it's not Christianity) but may I live gladly giving my all to you, for you because You Gave Christ For Me.