Many many moons ago my brother Marc, cousin Tawana and I would play superheroes in my parents’ house. We would set up bikes in the den and run from the back of the house, my parents had a rancher, down to the gym where we would hop on the bikes and pedal and pedal and pedal. In our imagination we were riding to our next destination, the place where we had to save someone. Ah of the power of imagination!! As I was sitting and thinking on Saturday morning, I remembered that I always had to be Robin. My brother would be Batman, my cousin was Wonder Woman and what was I? I was Robin, the sidekick. As I sat back and reflected on that I heard a whisper from heaven that I was teaching you servitude and humility. In that moment, I realized that God had been preparing me for the life He wanted me to live. After that realization came the joy. The joy that God had been right there all along. Guiding me, shaping me, loving me. I thank God for the training. Because being Robin showed me that I wasn’t inferior to Batman or Wonder Woman. I was their equal. I contributed to the team just like they did. Today I see that people putting so much emphasis on the pastor and the ministers and forget that they are the biggest servants in the church. They’re serving the members of the kingdom. Each of us has a job to do. At some point in time, each of us is called to be a Batman, a Wonder Woman or a Robin. The title does NOT make you or break you. It is the character within the person that makes them stand out and stand up. I Corinthians 9:19 (ESV) reads, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.” The ministers in your church choose to serve not so that they can be exalted but so that they can win souls for the kingdom. Take them off your pedestals. They are not your idols.
Character. A simple word that means so much. We could be billionaires and act like those that are not are beneath us. We could have the highest political office in the land (yeah, I’m going there) and not realize that our job is to serve ALL the people in that land. We could value freedom but forget that there are men and women who proudly serve to protect that freedom while we rake in the dough and snub our nose at them (yep, I went there). Listen, servitude – true servitude - comes down to understanding that I am not more than those that I serve. With my humble heart, I gladly represent you and will do my best for all of you.
The humble heart of a servant knows that it is not boastful or proud. I can be successful and humble all at the same time. Think on it. Have you ever been in a group of people, knowing you are sitting amongst greatness? I began to understand that sitting at the feet of my elders and hearing their stories of yesterday. These experiences were my gateway into understanding whom I would become by understanding through the acknowledgement of whose shoulders I stood upon. This is what my mom would call the by and by. Sit, listen and wait. You’ll understand better in the by and by.
Servitude and humility start in the crevices of the heart and grow to the extremities of the limbs. Your heart feels it, your brain thinks it, your body does it. As we grow in our relationship with God, know that “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30 ESV). Let’s not get caught up in the title that we are given be it Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Supergirl, Pastor, Road Sweeper, Toilet Bowl Cleaner, etc. Understanding that we all have a position in the kingdom. We are all part of the body.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (NIV): "12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
Be A Blessing and Not Just Blessed
- - Nakya