Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

The Christians in the Macedonian churches were servants who gave to the needs of the believers in Jerusalem, giving anonymously, in fact. Paul . . . also mentioned something else about those Macedonian servant-saints.

When Paul made his way through Europe, specifically the region of ancient Macedonia, he announced to the churches in that area the financial need of the church in Jerusalem.

The Word of God lays a solid, biblical foundation for what it means to have a servant mentality. But let's get some handles on what's involved in pulling it off. For starters, let me suggest three basic ingredients of servanthood.

Having "humility of mind" is really an attitude, isn't it? It's a preset mentality that determines ahead of time thoughts like this: "I care about those around me." "Why do I always have to be first?"

Before time began, God had in His mind's eye a masterpiece—a beautiful picture of grace that His beloved Son, the second person of the Trinity, would illustrate with His life.

Christmas comes each year to draw people in from the cold. Like tiny frightened sparrows, shivering in the winter cold, many live their lives on the barren branches of heartbreak, disappointment, and loneliness, lost in thoughts of shame, self-pity, guilt, or failure.

I like the tongue-in-cheek definition of philosophers one of my seminary professors would occasionally use. It's classic: Philosophers are people who talk about something they don't understand and make you think it's your fault!

I'll never forget a trip I took with my older son to shoot the rapids at the Rogue River in Oregon. While we were receiving instructions from the guide . . . , I began to study the canoes with my eyes.

After Adam and Eve disobeyed God for the first time—and sin entered the world—it didn't take long for them to begin looking out for number one. Enter self-interest.

It's been my experience that before I can fully conquer any problem, I need to understand the problem as well as possible, especially its origin. To do that with "self," we must go back, way back.

Yesterday, we looked at the apostle Peter's three crucial realms related to true success: authority, attitude, and anxiety. Let's translate those realms into practical principles. You could think of them in steps.

Maybe we should confess that one reason we find it so hard to set selfishness aside and adopt the spirit of a servant is that we're driven by dreams of success. We want to be winners.

Let's admit it; ours is an age of gross selfishness. The "me" era. And we get mighty uncomfortable even when God begins to make demands on us. Of course, our inner "self" doesn't want to dump God entirely.

Let's think about an essential mark of servanthood: integrity . . . or absolute honesty. Remember these words? "Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart . . ."

When we think of what the great apostle Paul was like, the idea of humility isn't the first one that jumps into our minds. Consider his own admission.

The great apostle Paul was just like you and me . . . he had a love for God blended with feet of clay. Great passion . . . and great weakness. The longer I thought about this concept, the more evidence emerged from Scripture to support it.

Perhaps the finest model, other than Christ Himself, was that young Jew from Tarsus who was radically transformed from a strong-willed official in Judaism to a bond servant of Jesus Christ—Paul.

"Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant" (Matthew 20:26). Forgotten words. Truth be told, even in our churches we tend to get so caught up in a success-and-size race that we lose sight of our primary calling as followers of Christ.

Journey back with me for a moment to one of the many scenes that demonstrated just how ordinary Jesus's disciples were. What makes this account interesting is the presence of a mother of two of the disciples.

Exactly what does our heavenly Father want to develop within us? Well, rather than getting neck-deep in tricky theological waters, I believe the simple answer is found in Christ's own words.