Make Me A Servant

The essence of Christianity is found in Phil 2. There Paul urges us to do nothing "out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others".
Paul escalates this by teaching by calling us to emulate Christ Jesus, who, though he was "in very nature God....made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant" (Phil 2:6-7)
Otto Piper nails the marriage relationships potential to create a servant heart in us when he descibes marriage as "a reciprocal willingness of two persons to assume responsibility for each other" I need to ask myself daily "How can I serve my mate?"
Marriage creates a situation in which our desire to be served and coddled can be replaced with a more noble desire to serve others---even to sacrifice for others. This is a call for BOTH husband and wives. The beauty of marriage is that it confronts our selfishness and demands our service twenty-four hours a day. When we're most tired, most worn down, and feeling more sorry for ourselves than we ever have before, we have the opportunity to confront feelings of self-pity by getting up and serving our mate.
The vast majority of people do not enter marriage with a view to becoming a servant. The marriage relationship is often seen as a selfish one because our motivations for marrying often are SELFISH. To fully sanctify the marital relationship, we must live it together as Jesus lived his life--embracing the discipline of sacrifice and service as a daily pratice. In the same way that Jesus gave his body for us, we are to lay down our energy, our bodies, and our lives for others. Each day we must die to our own desires and rise as a servant. We are called each day to identify with the suffereing Christ on the cross, and then be empowered by the resurrected Christ. We die to our expectations, our demands, and our fears. We rise to compromise, service, and courage.
"THE WORTHY"
An important thing to remember is that service is a spritual discipline we owe to God, and it can only be lived out as it is applied to others. God has called me to serve him through people, regardless of whether those people are "worthy" of being served.
I reach out to people because God has loved me and asked me to love others in return, not because the people I am loving are "worthy" of love or because they'll thank me for it in the end. It's not for me to make judgements about their "worthiness."
God is always worthy of being obeyed and served, so when I act out of obedience to him, the person who receives my sevice doesn't have to be deserving--they're benefiting from what I owe GOD. This truth is hard to apply in marriage, where demands and expectations are so plentiful, but I try and remind myself of this fact: God is always worthy of being obeyed, and God calls me to serve my spouse-so regardless of how she treats me at any particular moment, I AM CALLED TO RESPOND AS A SERVANT!
If your in a one-sided marriage where you feel like you're giving and giving and never receiving, myheart goes out to you. You can partially redeem such a situation by becoming more God-oriented. Remind yourself that you are also in a situation where you can grow spiritually by leaps and bounds. If the heart of Christianity is service, any situation that shapes the spirit of a servant in you is worthwhile-even a lop-sided marriage. Remember, part of Christian service is performing it with a beautiful spirit! There is true JOY when true service is offerred up with a true heart!
This was taken from the book Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas. Chapter ten "Make me a servant" Marriage can build in us a servant's heart. I wrote this out to help remind me that I am to serve my husband. Even when I don't feel loved or maybe at the time when it feels one-sided in my marriage. I need to constantly remind myself to die to self. I made a covenant with Dan 21 years ago. Maybe at the time it was for selfish motivations of looking at Dan to bring me happiness, love, security. I realize when I am feeling the most tired, the most worn down, and feeling sorry for myself is when I can receive the most joy from my heavenly father by serving my husband with a beautiful sprit. Dear Jesus help me to always look for those opportunities even when I am completely drained to serve my husband and others so I don't miss out on showing them your love! Amen