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Good Morning! You know, it's easy to be a servant. It's even easier to tell people you're a servant. However, no servant likes it when they are treated like servants!

In the Bible a servant was an employee. A slave was not as fortunate as a servant. I servant would have been paid for his work. Some lived on the same grounds as their Master-employer. They could have been teachers, doctors, farmers or anything for a large family of adult children and their children much like Jacobs family of twelve children and their many children's children.

Unlike a servant, however, a slave would serve his master without remuneration. They would be like a volunteer in today's day and age. However, they were not treated very well. It was forced labor, not volunteer. They were bought and sold like cattle and were not considered to be normal citizens.

Many consider themselves to be servants of the Lord. And often our expectations lead to disappointments in the way the Lord is treating us-His poorly paid or volunteer servant staff. We are servants of the Most High and we expect at times that we should be treated well and have little inconvenience from Him as a result.

But that is not the true view of a servant. A servant should view himself as fortunate to serve, expecting little in return. You see, the true test of a servant is when if we act like one when we are being treated like one.

Do you respond in such a way that indicates a feeling of unfairness on the part of our Master or His fellow servant leaders?

In the Bible we hear of a great position of promotion that is available for a servant. It is the position of ruler. The bible tells us that if we are faithful in little things, that He will make us ruler over much. The word ruler means "leader". So if we are faithful over the little things, God will make us a ruler over much. That is a great promotion and something in which all servants should strive; to be faithful in little that we may become ruler over much.

However, what better way to rule than to not be just a leader (ruler) who was once a servant, but rather to be a "servant leader"! I have heard this term used many times in Christian circles. Many have developed good definitions of the phrase "servant leader". But I feel the Bible defines the role of a servant leader better than any that I have heard.

You see, if a good servant is indicative of someone who is faithful in the little things and a good leader is indicative of a ruler over many things, then we can conclude that a servant leader is "ruler over many things who REMAINS faithful over a few"

In other words a good servant leader is a leader who has remained a good servant. He rules much while simultaneously remaining faithful to the little things. What a servant and what a leader. He is a servant leader!

With that said, I want to create a new position that may help the servant who is struggling to be faithful. This person has very little shot of ever being a ruler over much; unless they somehow get their act together to be a "servant faithful over a few."

Often times, these flailing servants are failing. As a result they regularly bear the burden of disappointing their leadership. If their leadership fails to exercise the fruit of the Spirit in the face of the servants failure, the servant will then be treated like the servant they are. But it's a frustrating place to be; trying to be faithful but being forgetful and thus failing in a few things, thus causing frustration for your leadership.

So, for those of us who find ourselves in this role, forget about being a servant leader. Forget about even being a leader. Might as well even forget about being a servant! Instead, let's try to be a new thing. Let's try to be a "servant slave".

In other words, serve the best you can and give it your all, but look at yourself as a slave. Expect nothing in return for your effort and accept that as a servant slave that you are going to be treated poorly at times. If we were to view ourselves as slaves of Christ rather then servants of Christ, I believe our expectations on how we should be treated by others would fall in line and show others our true servants heart.

With our lowered expectations on our treatment, we will find an increase appreciation for our service. We will see that when we respond right to a wrong response from our leaders, it has a counteracting tendency to raise that persons view of our worth. They may conclude "Man! He serves like an employee, but he acts like a slave!"

I think it would change the way they handled our failures and we will find the necessary liberty we need to become more faithful in our lroles of service. I believe we will be well on our way to becoming the leader that will someday be a servant leader. Why? Because we never forgot how to serve. Why? Because we never forgot how it felt to be a slave.

I would rather be a slave to service and free then to be free of service and enslaved.