The Servant
Privileges of being God’s Servant
The Bible talks about a number of privileges for the servant of God and here a few are mentioned. First and most importantly it is a privilege to serve the Highest and the Creator of all nations and the King of Kings. There are other servants on earth who are serving people of different calibers in the society whether those people being served are government ministers, officers, administrators or kings they are answerable to or under other people and in the case of a king there are other superior kings. From this, it follows that it is a privilege to serve the one who is superior to all these.
It is also a privilege to live to see one's offspring after toiling and suffering for their sake. In the other professions, it is not granted that one would live to see his offspring. When one is serving mankind and other causes, you receive your wages and many other forms of benefit. In addition, there can be things like allowances and bonuses but there is no guarantee that one would be able to see one’s offspring. The retirement benefits and all the accumulations would not assure one that he would live to see his offspring. The servant of God is assured of living to see his offspring and in addition is assured of prosperity.
Service to the worldly masters does not also assure one of a prolonged life. There are health insurance programs for workers and even medical contracts with the most qualified medics. One might choose to eat healthy foods and even have the most advanced type of lifestyle. The masters can in addition to this utilize the most advanced weapons and other forms of mechanisms to protect their servants, but all this is in vain. In contrast to the worldly servants, the servant of God is assured of a prolonged life and through whom the will of the Lord is meant to prosper.
Lastly, God’s servant is assured of his help in difficult times. If he was serving people and kings even with the most advanced technology, there are difficulties through which one cannot be assisted. Human beings also do have certain weaknesses, and they may not be as tough as they do appear and therefore in times of difficulties they would be of little assistance. The Bible notes that he who relies on a fellow human being is bound to fail and in this context God’s servant is privileged to rely on the Most High for He will always be there at all times.
Tasks set before God’s Servant
There quite a multiplicity of tasks that the servant God is set to fulfill and among them are teachings and bringing justice to the poor and the oppressed. The world is full of various types of injustices; the rich oppress the poor, the privileged are denying the underprivileged their rights and the rich and privileged are using their might to steal from the poor. There are people who are involved in various forms of social injustices without their knowledge, and others are born into such kind of society. With time, a majority come to accept this as an ordinary way of life without knowing that it can be altered for the better or a world without such inequities.
God’s servant has the task of eliminating these injustices through teachings and urging the people to follow the right path. Through teachings, the servant of God can let the people know what is good from what is bad not in terms of man’s standards but what is expected of them by their Creator. It is after the teachings that most of them will then be equipped with knowledge on the ways of the Lord. With this knowledge, they can then be likened to people who were blind but they can now see and therefore it is a whole new world to them. In fact, one can imagine how different the two worlds can be for a blind person and the one who is not blind.
God’s people are no different from the sheep, and they have all gone astray in one way or the other. In this analogy, God’s servant is the herdsman who has the ultimate duty of taking care of the sheep. He then has to take them out of the shed to the grazing land, give them water and bring them all back to the shed in the evening. In addition, he makes sure that they are all back and that none is missing by ensuring that they are always grazing together. The servant of God leads the people into knowing His word and continues to guide them in their day to day activities so that they do not wholly return to their old sinful ways.
Dangers or pressures that a God’s Servant needs to keep in mind
Being God’s servant is not an easy responsibility, and it has its expected challenges. In fact, this is one responsibility in which one has to make the people believe in what he has to tell them. At times, it can be quite discouraging when one keeps on telling people the same thing and for them to mock him like what he is telling them is something that is completely out of this world. There are even instances where one would be assumed to be a madman or one who is making noise, and the people can resort to queer means to discourage the servant from preaching to them. A majority in the crowd would judge him by his appearance, his social status and the kind of family that he comes from. For such people, they do not see the reason to believe someone who dresses in ordinary clothing that could even be cheap and does not come from an influential family that has a higher social status. It is not quite easy for them to trust in such a person because they do not find anything admirable in him they would want to believe in someone that they look up to and admire in his way of life because they aspire to be influential and successful.
Encouragement for God’s Servant
The servant of God needs to find encouragement in the fact that he is serving the Most High. He needs to know that he is different because he is among the few that are chosen to serve God in this special capacity. He was not selected as a grown up but that before he was born when he was still in the womb he had been chosen at that time for this mighty responsibility. He further needs to find encouragement in the fact that he has everlasting rewards awaiting him unlike earthly responsibilities that have rewards that would be left here in the world. Above all, God’s Servant needs to know that he is serving one Master, who will never forsake him, but will always be there by his side under whatever circumstances.
Jesus calling and our calling today to serve the Lord
In the context of this paper, Jesus Christ can be seen as God’s Servant. He was chosen to serve God even before He was born, and He was the son to a humble family that was not influential in the society. He was mocked, despised and suffered for the sake of the humankind and yet He was blameless. In fact, He was crucified and died to cleanse mankind of their sins. Jesus Christ went around teaching and spread the word of God, and He was tasked with delivering the human kind from oppression and other forms of injustices. He was ashamed and disgraced but finally He lives to see God’s word spreading to all corners of the world.
In today’s experience, we are all called to serve God in various capacities. We need to learn God’s word and spread the same to the others such that they can see the light and differentiate the good from the bad. We need to let them know that serving God is not easy but with persistence we would be able to overcome various challenges associated with this task. Finally, we need to feel encouraged by knowing that we are serving God the Most High and that part of His rewards are everlasting life.
