Humble Service

Goodness, gracious! My day was packed yesterday, Father, and I’m having an extremely difficult time keeping my eyes open and not keeping my mind on track but getting it on track even! Help me, Father!

1 Peter 5:1-4 (<<click here)

Peter here is speaking to elders – leaders of the church. Lord, 17 years ago this summer the responsibilities of serving as an elder were placed on my shoulders. Service truly is at the core of leadership in Your kingdom. And along with it should be humility, as well.

Peter clearly exemplifies these two characteristics in his writing. He had every “right” to thrust forth his superiority, after all, he was one of the original twelve – he was an apostle. He knew Jesus. He was one of the “inner circle” along with James and John. Jesus called him Peter – meaning “rock” – and said, “upon this rock I will build my church.” Matthew 16:18

If anyone was at the top of the proverbial heap it was Peter. But do we see that? Not a bit! His humility is evident. He identifies himself as “a fellow elder” – that’s it.

Leadership in the church – in God’s kingdom – is a precarious thing. Strong leadership is important – men and women who get things done, visionaries, those who push onward and upward. But without a servant’s heart, without the humility of realizing that their responsibility is to carry out Your will, Lord, without those elements at the forefront of their leading, trouble is just around the corner

Power and control unbridled can so easily lead to the corruption of heart, soul, and mind. Pride can grow to the point where no one can tell us what to do! We get this erroneous mindset that we are above sin and we can delve into whatever forbidden arenas we want. We begin to “lord it over the people assigned to [our] care” instead of leading them “by [our] own good example.”

Lord, may we pray for the leaders of Your Church. May service in humility – as Your life exemplified – be the overarching element that impacts our every action. Lord, may I be a leader under Your terms of service, not my own.

Feb 13^th, Mon, 6:37 am