Day 7: Servant's Heart

"Blessed are the pure in heart.." - has been ringing on my heart today!

Tomorrow we will pray through a series of verses for cultivating a servant like heart.

I am reminded of Jesus, who didn’t come into this world full of glory and splendor, owning gold and riches, living in a palace or riding in horse drawn chariots, but instead he came as a humble servant. He served many!

Mark 10:45

English Standard Version (ESV)

45For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Charles Spurgeon once said, "Service coupled with cheerfulness is heart-service, and therefore true. Take away joyful willingness from the Christian, and you have removed the test of his sincerity....The man who is cheerful in his service of God, proves that obedience is his element; he can sing, "Make me to walk in thy commands, 'Tis a delightful road."...Reader, let us put this question-do you serve the Lord with gladness? Let us show to the people of the world, who think our religion to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy! Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master."

We serve for the greater good of the gospel. We serve to make much of Jesus. Our money, our time, our spiritual gifts are all gifts bestowed on us by God and can be used for the greater good of the Kingdom. And the best way to show my children a servant’s heart is to lead by example.

I have a sense of urgency to pray that my boys learn to put others' interests above their own! These scriptures are shaping my heart for prayer tomorrow:

2 Corinthians 8:9

English Standard Version (ESV)

⁹For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Philippians 2:3-8

English Standard Version (ESV)

³Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Galatians 5:13

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

1 Corinthians 15:58

English Standard Version (ESV)

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

1 Peter 4:8-10

English Standard Version (ESV)

⁸Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹ Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: