Before you read the title and think “that’s blasphemy! We serve God; He doesn’t serve us!” I would direct you to the Lord’s own words…

For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.

(Mark 10:45)

Jesus Himself says that He came to be a servant (minister). He came because He saw a need that we could not meet on our own. He could. He did. He did that for us. He served for us. He served us! And before you say “ah but that’s just the MAN Jesus Christ, showing people how to live,” I would remind you that this idea is not limited to just the Person of Jesus Christ. It has always been in the character of God. Listen to the Psalmist…

 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 

(Psalm 121:5)

 A keeper is a guardian. He’s the one who stays awake all night protecting you while you sleep. He’s your constant source of vigilance, always ready to fight for you should the need arise. He’s also the shade that covers you. He stretches over you to bring relief from the oppressive sun, and to be a shield from enemy fire, always at your right hand, ready to help.

These words make the Lord sound like a servant, but that doesn’t mean He’s like a butler, or like an underling doing the grunt work for us. We don’t need to think of God Almighty in such terms. That being said, maybe our uncomfortableness with those ideas is because we subconsciously look down on people who do that kind of work. Maybe we should see “servant work” as “godly work.” Maybe we should have the mind of Christ who became a man specifically to serve (Philippians 2:5-8).

Yes, God is your Master, and there are plenty of Bible verses to expound on that idea, but it’s also the case that God emptied Himself, humbled Himself, and sacrificed Himself as an act of service for humanity. God being a servant does not make God inferior to us. Being a servant has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. It has everything to do with love. He doesn’t serve you because He thinks you’re better than He is. That’s not the reason. He serves us by stooping DOWN to us. If He has to stoop down, that seems to imply He’s higher and better than we are, and yet He still chose to serve us, because He loves us.

That’s amazing.

~Matthew