Lost in Servanthood to Christ
My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
James 5:19–20
It is a normal thing for people to be concerned for their friends and family members, especially for those dangers and problems that can be seen and felt. It is, on the other hand, quite a remarkable thing for someone to be concerned about a person they do not know, and even more so if that concern is for what cannot be seen with our physical eyes, namely the salvation of their soul. The burden and vision of God for our spiritual salvation extends to people across the globe and the span of millennia. Sometimes He places His burden on our hearts as well for the salvation of people we cannot see and do not know.
Yet He especially calls us to be concerned about who we can see, who we do know. A brother or sister, one with whom we enjoyed close fellowship in previous times, goes astray, and God then turns our hearts toward that person and we go to them. This is servanthood, for this may not be easy with someone we know. They may welcome us or they may resent us. If we come to them simply to get credit for retrieving the lost, they will sense this and become cold toward us. If we come out of God’s compassion and in a spirit of servanthood, if we lay down our lives for Jesus’ sake, there is more of us for the Spirit to use to restore the person.
The point is to cover sins, even a multitude of sins, and not to point them out or to document them. Christ died that we might be forgiven and cleansed. When we clean our homes we do not enshrine the dirt; and when God cleans our lives He does not memorialize our failures. The emphasis is on restoration and forgiveness.
The love of God is not merely love for love’s sake alone, but love for redemption’s sake, for someone’s sake. Christ came to a people, a nation, a family, a town, and though He sends us out across the world, he also leads us to specific places and to individuals. There in the presence of someone, perhaps someone who rejects us, we learn about burden and compassion.
The point of servanthood is not to call attention to ourselves, but to our Master and to His task for us. Jesus said, “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty’” (Luke 17:10). The true servant is the one who has lost Himself in the person and will of His master.
Prayer:
Lord, let us lose ourselves in You and experience the freedom that only obedience to Your will can bring. Amen
