hearts of servants

Jesus, you are
Jesus, you were
Jesus, you will always be
A perfect servant to us
A perfect servant to death
Even death on a cross

Give us a picture of your face
Show us the measure of your grace
Reveal the love of the Father
Put within us tenderness
Release from us all selfishness
And we'll consider them better

We are Yours
Give us hearts
Of servants.

Shane & Shane, Hearts of Servants
from the album Carry Away

This is one of my favorite songs. It's beautifully written, arranged, and performed. The tone of the song matches the outcome; just like the song, a servant's heart is beautiful to behold. However, the process whereby a human heart is fashioned into a servant's heart is sometimes anything but beautiful.

One time Jesus' disciples brashly requested of Jesus, "Increase our faith!" Jesus responds to their demand with this sobering story about being a servant:

"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, `Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, `Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "
(Luke 17:7-10, NIV)

Now, how many folks would be jumping out of their seats to serve in Jesus' church after he shared that illustration from the pulpit? How many of us after hearing Jesus speak those words would say to ourselves, "Yeah, I wanna usher." or "You know, he's right; I should jump right into serving in the Children's Ministry." or "Gosh, how I am volunteering on the weekends really does matter. Thanks Jesus!"

Jesus doesn't seem to feel the need to inspire people to serve through grandiose stories or gestures. What he does do, however, is give us a glimpse of what makes the heart of a servant tick. Perhaps more accurately: Jesus gives us a glimpse of what doesn't make a servant's heart tick. What doesn't make the heart of a servant tick is this: its expectations on how its service will be rewarded.

How much of our service is contingent on our expectations of being rewarded for it? Take a moment to ask yourself: "Am I motivated to serve simply because of how I am benefitting from it?" "Would I continue to serve if those benefits disappeared?" "Do I struggle to serve because I feel like I'm not being rewarded enough, recognized sufficiently, or made to feel significant?"

To be clear, it is not wrong to feel rewarded through our service. Indeed, service of all types in Jesus' name can be very rewarding. Rather, when our service is fueled by reward and recognition, we find ourselves in a dangerous place. Which of course begs the questions: what should fuel the heart of a servant? How is a heart of a servant formed?

One Person answers both of those questions. A heart of a servant is formed as Jesus replaces our heart with his. Jesus does this as we interact with his stories of service recorded in the Gospels, as we put ourselves in positions to serve, and as we let his Spirit bring to our minds the times that our acts of service become fueled by something other than the love that Jesus serves to us daily through his cross.

When we look to serve, let us look to the cross of Jesus and reflect on what it means to our hearts before we look to any other factor. Let our service be purified by Jesus' pure act of service. And let us persevere in our service with attitudes of lowly servants, for the Son of God has become our brother.