You’re Called to Be a Servant
When Paul called himself ‘a bond-servant’ of Christ he was referring to an Old Testament law under which you served your master faithfully for six years. However, in the seventh year the law said that you had to be set free. But if you turned back when you were released and said, ‘Master, I’m not serving you because I have to but because I want to,’ then your master took you before a judge and pierced your ear, signifying that you belonged to him forever; that you were committed to listening to him and obeying him. (Exodus 21:6) Today pray, ‘Lord, I’m not serving You because I have to but because I want to. Pierce my ear, mark me as Yours, bond me together with You so that I can never belong to another.’
When ministry loses its passion it becomes an empty profession. The very word ‘minister’ is a verb, not just a noun. It’s what you do, not what you claim to be. The special word Paul used for ‘servant’ also referred to a third-level galley slave chained to an oar on a Roman ship. Day and night you rowed to the drumbeat of the ship’s master, whether you were in battle or carrying cargo. And you expected to die chained to that oar. What a picture! It’s what Paul had in mind when he wrote: ‘I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable.’ (Romans 12:1 NLT) When you think of what Christ has done for you, is it too much to ask?