How can a person be sure of a place everywhere? Who is the type of a person that can be sure of a place everywhere? A servant. A servant is one who begs to serve. A servant is not the one who goes to a place and increases the problem of people there. The one who goes to increase people’s problem is a boss. If he comes to increase your problem, you may endure him. Everyone is looking for a servant. Servants are welcome everywhere. A servant gladdens the heart. A servant brings joy everywhere. When a servant arrives somewhere, the people will exclaim with great relief, “At last!”
The opposite of a servant is a boss. The boss expects things to be done for him. He expects attention. He expects help from others. He expects that things be done for him. He can be angry. He can be frustrated. He can be disappointed. To anybody, one boss is too much. On the other hand, a servant is never angry. In fact he can never be angry. When a boss comes to your house, the burden is, how will you help him? He seeks to be helped. How do you bear him? If there are twelve servants anywhere, there is always room for more. One boss is already too much; one boss is already ‘too many’. The boss will fail. The boss must fail. If he is not rejected, he will be finally rejected.
Some Facts About A Servant And A Boss
The following are some facts about boss and a servant:
- The boss lifts himself high. The servant is lifted high.
- The boss condescends to do things. The servant is exulted by the service he renders.
- The boss thinks he is doing someone else a favour by doing things. The servant things it is a great privilege to be of help to another.
- The boss complains about what they have not done for him. The servant complains of what he has not done for the master.
I want you to confront these facts and see where you fall. What are you? Are you a boss or a servant? Who is a servant here? Are you a boss?
When a servant gets to a place, his first questions are, what must I do to serve? Who here has a need I can meet? That is his whole spirit. The boss on the other hand, asks, “Who will take care of my needs?” Nobody ever quarrels with a servant.
There is almost always quarrelling among bosses. Two bosses will always quarrel with each other. A bossy child is a ruin to his parents, a total ruin in society, because people will always be knocking him down everywhere, until his whole life will be the end of blows.
The servant does not justify himself. The boss justifies himself with all his might. He will explain and explain and explain. He will defend himself, defend himself and defend himself again. A servant never justifies himself. The boss will justify himself even unto the last ounce of his blood. A servant repents easily. A boss justifies himself again and again and then hardens up.
In eternity, the boss will have the lowest rank. Why? It will be so because the boss treats God as he treats man. Just as he does not know the authority of man, he does not know the authority of God. Just as he justifies himself before man, he justifies himself before God. The boss cannot know the treasures of being near God. The boss cannot know the intimacy of the Lord. The boss cannot know true fellowship with the Lord. The boss cannot be in true communion with God. At best, he is far from God. The worst thing that can happen to a man is that he has the spirit of a boss. The boss has already been rejected. It is only a matter of time before he is out-rightly rejected.
It is possible that someone who started with a spirit of a servant may end up with that of a boss. Someone may start as a servant, change into a boss, harden up and perish as a boss! The spirit of a servant is not automatically retained. It can be lost. It can be lost for some time. It can be lost for good. I was stricken in the US by the fact that the finest construction in a person can be shattered. During the last ten years when I had travelled to the US, There is someone that I have visited four times on four different journeys. The first time I visited him, he was
- glad,
- boisterous,
- joyous,
- buoyant and
- satisfied with God.
The second time I went, I met the person at a lower plane, the third time I went, I met the person at a lower plane than the one before. The fourth time was the worst. The person was at the lowest plane. Every time I had gone, I have met the person at a lower plane than before. The fourth time was the worst. The person was at the lowest plane. Every time I have gone, I have met the person at the lower plane than before. The decay was shocking. The spirit of a servant is not automatically retained. A person can change into the worst beast and end up in eternal loss.
Virtue is not automatically retained. Without aggressive hard work, the servant can become a boss and eventually a beast. He can very easily become a boss and a beast. Violence is needed to overthrow the spirit of a boss. I have said that a servant is one who begs to serve. Let me put it differently. A servant is someone who has sacrificed his own needs. He has given up his needs for the needs of another or others. When two people come to you, each one with his own need and each one trying to use the other, if there is a servant among them, he will put aside his needs and ask, “How can I serve?” Without putting aside his needs, he cannot serve. How can one serve without putting aside his own needs? So the question to ask yourself and others is, “How can I serve?”
Normally; a servant dresses to please his master. Look at cooks and servants in the hotels. They are always well dressed. They dress to please all the customers. They are ready servants. The servant puts on not an outward garment, but an inward garment. He puts it on to please his master. In the book, “the ministry of supplication” which I am presently writing, Hannah is seen to have had a servant’s heart.
Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was seating on a chair by the door post of the Lord’s temple. In bitterness of soul, Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. And she made a vow, saying, ‘O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.’
As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her. ‘How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.’ Not so, my lord,’ Hannah replied,’ I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.’
Eli answered, ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’ She said, ‘may your servant find favour in your eyes.’ Then she went her way and ate something and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning, they rose and worshipped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife and the Lord remembered her. So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, because I asked the Lord for him. “(1 Samuel 1:9-20).
When Eli, the high priest, accused Hannah falsely, she could have given him two jabs. Eli’s accusation shows the degree to which he has fallen from the glory of the God. Hannah could have taken him to task for accusing her falsely, but she did not. She could have asked him, “Don’t you know what your office is? Have you forgotten that you are a priest? Can’t you distinguish a praying woman from a drunken woman? Instead, her reply was, “Not so, my lord… I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.” Not so, my lord! These are the words of a servant. They are the direct opposite to those of a boss.
Excerpt from: Processes of Faith
