Some people think they aren’t serving anyone, but this is never true.  We are all at least serving our own desires.  We may also desire to serve our employers, our spouses, our friends, our country, our ambitions, and many other masters, in addition to ourselves.  Someone or something is determining what we do.  Nobody is without a master.

The apostle Paul was clear in the Bible who his master was.  In the first verse of 3 of the epistles he wrote – Romans, Philippians, and Titus – Paul opens by calling himself a “servant” of God and of Jesus.  Given his status as a Roman citizen and his heritage and accomplishments as a Jew[1], it may have been hard for Paul to see himself as a servant, but he knew there was no other kind of person, or Christian.  We’re all servants.

We are not saved by being servants, we are saved by God’s grace and mercy, but when we are saved, we take on a new identity.  In Paul’s case, he writes in Romans and Titus that he was “called to be an apostle”[2] and that he was “an apostle of Jesus Christ.”[3]  Paul knew that he served only one Master, and that Master determined his priorities and required him to turn from other masters.  Likewise, unless we first acknowledge that we are servants, we will not answer our call to be set apart for God’s purpose in us.

We are not called to be apostles, but as servants, we are called to be something, in service to Him. This does not mean we all need to go into full-time ministry, but it does mean that we need to bring God’s priorities to love Him and to love our neighbor into our daily lives and activities.  Into our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our churches, and anywhere else we go.  It means we let Jesus decide our priorities and how we treat the people around us.

Paul wrote in Romans that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”[4]  So, faith that leads to salvation includes the acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord and therefore that Christians are His servants.

Today, someone will be your master.  Choose wisely and ask Jesus how you can serve Him today.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something” – Max Lucado

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[1] Philippians 3:4-6
[2] Romans 1:1
[3] Titus 1:1
[4] Romans 10:9