A few weeks back someone contacted me. He stated that he was unfamiliar with any verses in the Bible stating servant hood. At that time, I provided him three. The most powerful of these was:

Mark 10:42-45 – 42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Here is one I did not include that time, but is worth mentioning:

John 12:26: If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

To follow Jesus, is to serve Jesus. We are called to serve all. Not to have God or Jesus serve us, but to serve God and Jesus.
To serve Jesus we must serve the people, if you seek reward from God and give no service, but you are given a reward. You must ask yourself from whom did I get this reward since it clearly states that God will honor us if we serve.
My service is me writing and posting these thoughts, dreams and studies here. Will he call me to serve somewhere else? I truly hope so.
As I stated before our prayers should not be centered upon us. They should be centered first upon God and then on those in need. No matter the need you feel drawn to pursue.
My best example at this time is my own church I attend. We are a small congregation, but we provide food to the hungry. Our church is in the poorest county of the state of Pennsylvania. We may officially number less than an hundred members but our pastor and volunteers feed hundreds every month. This is a true example of servant hood.
If any man serve Jesus, he must follow Jesus’ examples. Jesus is the ultimate servant. He served you and me by taking our place upon the cross. Beaten and blood He suffered upon the rough wooden cross. Splitters sticking into His already torn back. That is the ultimate act of servitude.

Place others before yourself through prayer and action as Jesus has done for us.
I was just thinking today in a few years I plan to retire. How can I continue to serve the Lord at that time?
Therefore, I decided to do some more reading from the Bible and I once again turned to Mark 10:44. Now I am not saying I wish to be a chief, but I wanted to look at the original meaning of the word “servant” in that verse. By the way, you should never take any verse of the Bible at face value. To truly get into God’s Word you are required to truly delve into it. I like to use Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance with the Hebrew and Greek Lexicon all of the time.

Servant in the Greek here means: Doulos – a Slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary… therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency)

I then like to go to the dictionary
servant: a person who is devoted to or guided by something.

Subserviency: – Subservience: 1: a subservient or subordinate place or function; 2: obsequious servility

Obsequious: : too eager to help or obey someone important

Servility: of or befitting a slave or a menial position

From this break down of the definitions, and as you think through the syntax of the means. You end up stating that the word “servant” in Mark 10:44 means to over eagerly seek to help others even though you are called to be a leader.
Just think on that for a minute. To be so eager that you can be called over eager to serve others. That is even hard for me to get my thoughts around. This though is what Christians are called to do; to place all others before ourselves, but too many times, in fact most of the time that is not how Christians think.
Many think of themselves as better than other. They look down one people.
I heard a good example of this the other day, where I cannot remember now. Well someone in a church was reaching out to youth in the community, they has tattoos and decided to come to this person’s church. When they sat down people beside them got up. The pastor noticed this and said something to these people. The elders of the church stating he was wrong for doing this later confronted the pastor.
In reality, those that moved away and those that scolded the pastor are the ones in the wrong here.
This to me is a dying church.
I recall one time being in church in Memphis where I was upstairs looking down into the crowd below me. There I saw a woman waving to another to get her attention. Once she did she said “I love you hat!”
I thought to myself “really”. Are we here to impress others?
The answer to the question is no by the way.
These are not the actions of a servant heart. These are the actions of selfishness. These are the actions of someone, who in my eyes may not even truly be Christian.
Therefore, as I stated before our prayers should be God focused first. Other people focused second. Then God focused third. The moment you say “God Help me” or “God why are you doing this to me” you are not being servant centered but self-centered. I feel we are all guilty of this one. I know I sure have been in the past. Christians must return to what God has asked. To place all others before ourselves, and once we do He will reward us.