I have been reading the letter written by James, who was the half brother to Jesus. For those of us who grew up with siblings and were at any level competitive or found themselves playing the comparison game this was probably difficult. Imagine the response of James when all the kids said, “man your brother is perfect!” This seems like it could get old really quickly. The letter has some deep truths that often get lost in the discussion or faith verse works and at time seems to pit James and Paul in contradictory camps. Maybe I’ll write about that one day soon. But in the opening verse James calls himself a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many times we see this in terms of how we view servants form our cultural lens. The greek word used in this instance means slave. James is proclaiming a humble status of tremendous honor and respect. He sees himself as a servant or slave, to the God of the universe, the sovereign one. He is saying I am His servant, He is my king. To be called a “servant of God” was granted to many great ordinary men. For example, Moses, David, and in the New Testament Paul, Peter and others. This was not a man claiming lowliness, but great privilege to have the blessing to be considered a servant of God.
How about it…When we think about giving our lives over to God…is there a sense of privilege, and honor that comes with identifying yourself as a believer or a “servant of God”. Do you hide that part of your life when you are in class, around the dorms, or with people who are definitly not favorable to God? There is tremendous power in understanding that belonging to God is not something to hide, but live openly and authentically wherever God has you.