Pray for a Servant’s Heart

Glen Berry

HOW WILL WE LIVE in Heaven, with all eternity before us? Will we be servants? Oh, you might say, that would be great, to be able to serve God perfectly. And of course it would be and will be. But, WILL WE BE SERVING EACH OTHER, fellow-saints?

For a clue, let us look at the only one who ever came FROM Heaven to earth. He is the Master Teacher. What did He teach us? After all, the things He taught, is there not a strong indication and even a proof of the way we will live throughout eternity? If THIS life on earth is a kind of training ground, then the way we are being TRAINED is proof-positive that is the same way we will be living in eternity. Is it not most logical to assume that is what the training is all about?

I expect you know, for example, that Christian marriage is a training ground on how the husband and the wife is to show each other LOVE, submission as servants,—serving one another.

Marriage on earth, ideally, is a picture of the marriage in heaven between the bride and her Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. His bride is spoke of as the church, the body of Christ. Earthly marriage is designed as a type of the supreme marriage in Heaven. Just look:

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen IS the righteousness of saints.”

The wife is the church, the body of Christ, the saints of God. The righteousness of the saints is the very righteousness of Christ Himself. He has made His wife “ready.” Let us continue:

“And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the MARRIAGE SUPPER of the Lamb. . . .” (Revelation 19:7-9)

Right now I want to point out something in verses 5 and 10:

“And a voice came out of the throne, saying Praise our God, ALL YE HIS SERVANTS, and ye that fear Him  both small and great.” (verse 5)

“And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am THY FELLOW-SERVANT, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (verse 10)

So here is proof and evidence that in Heaven we are counted as SERVANTS AND FELLOW-SERVANTS! But still, will we be serving God only, or will we also be SERVING one another?

It indeed seems spiritually logical that the same thing that  Jesus  taught and gave an example for, He would mean for us to practice HERE because we are going to be doing it in perfection THERE, that is serving one another,—as we are taught to do EVEN NOW! I am convinced this is the case.

Think of all the scriptures in the Word of God where we are instructed to LOVE ONE ANOTHER, to bear one another’s burdens and to be servants one of another. This instruction has an eternal purpose. Certainly what we learn in the way of spiritual, godly truth—the lessons and precepts—in this life, are meant to be carried on even when we come to perfection. Otherwise, we could not be spoken of as ever reaching perfection if the same lessons and precepts have no application or value later.

For example, when our Master came to earth from Heaven, He was MEEK, and He taught us meekness. Further He says that the MEEK shall inherit the earth.  He teaches us in this life to live holy and pure lives; and He says that the PURE IN HEART shall see God. He says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (not the proud and haughty): “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” You see, the same traits embedded in the saints in this life, are the SAME TRAITS that we will be exercising and using in Heaven!Jesus came as a SERVANT. We are not and never to be above our Lord and Master. We are to be eternally SERVANTS! (Study the Sermon on the Mount.)

When we are told in Ephesians 5:21 that we need to be and must be (an imperative command) “submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God,” it would make no sense to learn this lesson and not do it even in Heaven.

Here is another lesson found in Philippians 2:3,4,5:

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind LET EACH ESTEEM OTHER BETTER THAN THEMSELVES.”

Don’t you think that will be required of us also in Heaven, with all eternity in front of us?

“Look NOT every man on his OWN things, BUT EVERY MAN  also ON THE THINGS OF OTHERS. Let THIS mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

There you have it! All these lessons and divine instructions from the Word of God are showing us THE MIND OF CHRIST. And we know His mind remains the same on earth and in Heaven. Our God changes not. We are given the very mind of Christ, and that same mind will continue to be our guide throughout all  eternity, glory world without end with Christ Himself. We will serve one another!

Today, in this life, we are in sinful flesh and have to learn lessons over and over. We fail and fall and have to get up and work at it some more. But if we truly are born again, we have the Spirit of God within, and the godly DESIRE is there.  God gives us one test after another. He uses affliction, sickness and sorrow, and even death and grief to teach us.  Just like in school you take one test after another for many, many years. The Lord God Almighty means for us to LEARN. Remember,  HE IS PREPARING A BRIDE!  He is getting the wife of Christ Jesus ready!

I enjoyed a godly and Christian marriage. My loving wife and I had a lot of practice on one another. The Lord gave us over 58 years of marriage together, with each day seemingly sweeter than the day before. But then on March 22, 2016, the Lord saw fit to take my bride home to Himself   She SERVED  me and I trust I also served her. In fact, though I sorely miss her love and service toward me, I miss even more the joy of serving her, something I now can NO LONGER DO in this life, and that was my greatest earthly joy, of which now I am deprived.

But you know, in thinking of this matter of  having a servant’s heart, of servanthood, and THAT continuing through eternity, I am greatly comforted. In fact with great JOY and expectation I look forward to that day when I can serve the Lord Jesus and my God in perfection but when I can also serve, with a servant’s heart, my Maryanne and other saints as we all serve around the throne, serving our God and serving one another.

The Bible is clear. In heaven there is no giving in marriage as there is on earth. All saints will be married to the Lamb, with Christ Jesus as the heavenly Bridegroom. But we will be then glorified and perfected in this matter of servanthood. We will also be loving and serving one another in a much fuller and perfect way than is possible on earth. My gift from God that I had for over 58 years will not then be my wife,  we still will serve each other, along with all saints.  WHAT AN EXTENTION AND EXPANSION OF LOVE AND SERVICE THIS WILL BE!

On earth, some Christians do NOT manifest a “servant’s heart.” I don’t know what the Lord will have to bring them through to teach them something so contrary to human nature. But he means for us to LEARN! Some are not at all quick to help others or serve them when it is known to cost them something.  Would not this be called “selfishness,” and not looking every man on the things of others, considering the welfare of others above his own?  THIS is what God would have us learn!  The Lord has given us His Word; what other means  or tests or disciplines and chastisements will He have to bring to bear in order to really teach us?

So may you be sensitive to His teaching, and tender in spirit, desiring to be quick to learn.

In my view, my wife was quite the perfected saint. On her death-bed, two or three days before she departed to be with Lord, though she was as athirst as ever, with the oxygen flowing in, she started refusing any sip of water. She said that on the cross, Jesus had no water. Before dying, at last she did not even want any oxygen. But I told her we could not watch her gasping for breath. When a nurse removed her oxygen mask for mere seconds to give her a pill, my wife was asked how she could breathe. She referred, again, to Christ on the cross with a pierced side and said, “Jesus could not breathe.  She seemed to be voluntarily refusing selfish and natural creature comforts so she could relate more to Christ’s sufferings on Calvary. She spoke to me about His suffering there, and said to me, “I don’t see how He did it.”

And talk about a SERVANT’S HEART! When a nurse asked her if she could get her anything, she pointed to myself and my daughter, and said, “Get them coffee.” Oh! Such a pure servant’s heart. That was my Maryanne to the very end, and that SERVANT’S HEART was her  life all the years I knew her. Thoughtful of others, considering their welfare above her own, kind considering their welfare above her own, kind, loving and so selfless. Both she and her mother were also known to always stand back, like where people were gathered to get in line to eat. You could not have paid them to get in the line before everyone else was served.  Had you offered them money to go ahead and get in line ahead of anyone else, they would have told you to put your money in your pocket.  Taking the “lower seat” or being last in line was their way of life, part of living in principle and practice a selfless life.  These are two saints I look forward to serving through eternity.  And I am sure I will be happy doing for them and all other saints, most of whom I have not even met yet.

The Lord also teaches us that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”  This is another principle that will apply throughout the coming ages of endless years of eternity. Many generous souls learn that joy and lesson in this life. Be assured, giving will be even more fully enhanced with unspeakable joy in Heaven.  But what will befall those who never learn the lesson? What will become of those who do not show by their daily lives that they indeed truly “have a servant’s heart,” and who refuse to help others when they have the means and the opportunity?   Where is our heart?  Pray for a servant’s heart!