“They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing” (Hindu Proverb).
MUCH MORE THAN OCCASIONAL ACTS OF SERVICE, WHAT WE NEED IS A “SPIRIT” OF SERVANTHOOD. Although acts of service are good as far as they go (and we can’t say we have the spirit of servanthood if we don’t actually serve), it would help if we adopted the heart and disposition of a servant. In a positive sense, we need to see ourselves as servants, thinking more often of what we can give than of what we can get. We need to have the attitude and mindset of one who is in the world to serve, rather than to be served.
To “serve” means to “help.” It means to do something that somebody else needs to have done. The servant is first and foremost a giver, an individual whose primary role is to provide and to please. Their “mission” in life is defined in terms of helping others.
Learning to have this outlook as our primary way of thinking is a challenge. It’s a challenge because from childhood, we’ve been acquiring the habit of self-centeredness. We started out as babies thinking the world revolved around us, and many of us have never grown much beyond that orientation. To learn another way of thinking requires going against the grain of a lifelong disposition.
It’s easy, however, to tell whether we’ve learned the spirit of servanthood. The test is simply this: how do you react when someone treats you like a servant? If when treated like a servant you resent it, you probably don’t see yourself as one, whatever words you may have spoken about the “nobility” of serving others. True servants don’t object when others see them as being what they actually are!
Albert Schweitzer, who certainly knew the meaning of servanthood, once told a graduation audience, “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” Schweitzer was right, of course. And yet, there is one point on which we need to be careful: the kind of serving that will make us “really happy” is not rendered for that reason. In our finer moments, we don’t serve because it enhances our self-image or our emotional state; we do it because there are other people who need our help.
“Be ashamed to die unless you have won some victory for humanity” (Horace Mann).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
