Who Is the Servant?

          Looking back over my Christian life so far, it looks like  too much of it has been spent serving myself. I believed I served Christ. I knew all the right words and all the right Scriptures. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, strength—most important. Love others as self—2nd. Take up your cross and follow Jesus.” “Walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the desires of the flesh.” I could quote more.

But did I actually do those things? Many times, I was a hearer only. I didn’t ask, “How can I serve You, Lord, in this situation?” or “What do you want me to know and/or do and/or learn?” More often I asked (or said), “How can I get out of this difficulty?” “Please get me out of here!” “Help me through this.” “Please fix this, fix me, guide me, heal me, protect me” and on and on (or please do those things for friends or loved ones). It’s not that God doesn’t want to help with those things, but my focus was off. It appears that perhaps I thought Jesus should serve me instead of the other way around.
Lord Jesus, I want to truly love and serve You. Lord God, You alone are God. I repent of the many times I’ve served me instead of You. Holy Spirit, please work in me and change me as I yield to you and set the sail of my will to be an obedient servant of the Lord. Thank You, Lord for being so patient with me. Thank You for forgiveness for all of our sins because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Luke 17:7-10 “And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘ Come at once and sit down to eat’?  8 But will he not rather say to him, ‘ Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’?  9 Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.  10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘ We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'” New King James Version