The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Dynamic Duo"
Part 2 - The Servant
"The greatest servant who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ, now lives in born again believers to motivate and empower our own devotion to the glory of God and the blessing of others."
"Let us have grace that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).
The Apostle Paul taught that we were "servants of sin" before salvation, and became "servants of righteousness" after we trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
"But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:17-18).
The greatest servant who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ, now lives in born again believers to motivate and empower our own devotion to the glory of God and the blessing of others. His presence imparted "newness of life" and birthed a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness" when we believed (Romans 6:4; Ephesians 4:24). The gift of God's grace in Christ imparted His nature of unselfishness and service into our hearts. We do not always live accordingly, being still susceptible to temptation and sin through the world, the devil, and the flesh. However, The Servant abides within us, and as we "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," we grow in the realized awareness that, like Him, our great joy is to serve. "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give His life a ransom for many" (II Peter 3:18; Matthew 20:28).
Grace provided such a gift. Truth illuminates us to the fact of it. We must know and believe that service to God and others constitutes the truest desire of our Christ-inhabited hearts. "I delight in the law of God after the inward man" declared the Apostle Paul (Romans 7:22). Much evidence, emotion, and experience may seem to contradict the fact of such grace. We can still walk after the flesh and fulfill its self-centered desires. However, just as our Christian life began by receiving the freely given grace of the Lord Jesus, so it continues by the same dynamic means. We believe the truth about Him, and about ourselves as united to Him. "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).
The grace of God that awaited us before salvation must not be made to wait as we seek to walk in the present and vital reality of having received our Savior. The Servant dwells within us both now and forevermore as the Life of our lives, provided to our hearts as the freest gift ever given. "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16). He ever moves within us by the Holy Spirit to motivate and empower the life of service to which God calls us. His delight has become our delight, a truth that may sometimes seem unlikely, but which the Word of God unequivocally declares. Yes, grace gave the gift of The Servant to our spirits. Truth reveals the glorious wonder. United within our trusting hearts, this dynamic duo blesses us with the joy of service to God and others.
"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father."
(Galatians 4:6)
"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves."
(Philippians 2:3)
Weekly Memory Verse
By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."
(Hebrews 10:14)
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