Make Me a Servant, Today.

By Pastor Jacob Doran

During my time with the Lord, this morning, I read the following passage:

Mark 10:42-45
42 And Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they who are accounted to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great ones exercise authority over them.
43 But it is not so among you: but whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister;
44 and whosoever would be first among you, shall be servant of all.
45 For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Jesus' admonition to his disciples struck me as the kind of words that, if we allow them, hold the power to change lives--both ours and the lives of others around us.

I realized that, most of the time, we go about our day entirely focused on ourselves, or at least on our own lives, our own needs and the demands that have been placed upon us. In whatever free time we have, we plan, we dream, we think about the things that would make our lives better or easier.

However, none of us have been called to be self-absorbed Christians. We are called to be salt and light--to bring help, hope and healing--to generally enrich the lives of others.

I had the incredible experience, last night, of meeting a Rwandan woman at the YWAM base in Lakeside, MT. She is there to learn skills that she wants to take back to her country and teach to the widows and orphans she has built her life around ministering to.

In all, there are 2100 orphans and more than 700 widowed women. Of the children, 1105 have tested positive for AIDS. Of the 700 widows, 403 have AIDS. The numbers are staggering.

Many of these are survivors of the genocide that took place in Rwanda, as is she. God kept her alive. Why? So that she could minister to her people's needs. The ministering of the Word is only a small part of her ministry to her people. The vast majority of what she does is simply to serve them and provide for their needs. She strives to brief relief from the suffering and joy to their despair. But that is the Gospel, in a nutshell.

We can say that Christianity is a lot of things, but the first general overseer of the Church of God, known to the Apostles as "James the brother of Jesus," declared: "Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

Keeping ourselves unspotted from the world is only part of the calling of Christian, a reasonable service that we should in no way rest upon thinking that we have therein fulfilled the Word and will of God.

PURE religion and UNDEFILED BEFORE GOD is this: that we visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. We must never forget that the whole of law is fulfilled in two commandments: to love the Lord our God with all of heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbor--the ones created in His image--as ourselves.

The woman wept as she told me about her people, confiding that she had left them in the care of another and that it was difficult for her to be so far from them.

"I love them." She said, unable to speak again for a few moments, overcome the depth of emotion and concern for her people. She missed them. She wanted to be back in Rwanda with them.

That's why she is so devoted to learning everything she can while she is at YWAM. It has to be worth her while. She doesn't go back to Rwanda until March, and being so far from where her heart longs to be, doing what her passion compels her to do, would be unbearable if she did not occupy herself with getting the most out of her DTS (discipleship training program) so that she can minister to them more effectively when she returns.

Listening to her was one of the most powerful experiences I have even seen or felt. I was moved to love those around me as she loves her own people--the fatherless and the widows.

"There was so much killing," she said. "So much suffering. I can't ever let that happen again. I have to help them."

You see where her focus lies. She does not think about what she has lost--she too is an orphan--but about what her people have lost. She doesn't think about what she WANTS. She thinks about what her people NEED.

I have so much to learn.

Perhaps, we all do.

Matthew 9:35-37
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.
36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd.
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few.

Prayer:
Heavenly father, I have been spoiled by my own comforts. I have complained about petty things that are not worthy of my concern or attention. I have desired things that are not worthy of my affection. Please teach me to love as I am love. Teach me to give to others what you have given me. Move me with compassion for those who are distressed and scatter, as sheep not having a shepherd. Make me a servant, today.