servant of the Gospel

I have been thinking about the question, "what defines me? what is my life about?" The past few mornings I've been so challenged by Ephesians 3:7-8. The phrases in bold stand out to me.

"I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

A servant of this Gospel. Paul's purpose is to be a servant, his life is about serving the cause of spreading the Gospel. The Message says it like this, "This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message." His purpose is all about Jesus and serving him by helping people understand the Gospel. He says I need God's grace and power working in me to do and be this. Is my life about being a servant of me or is it about being a servant of the Gospel?

That depends on how I see myself and how I see Christ. Here is how Paul see's himself.

I am less than the least of all God's people. He sees himself as undeserving, unworthy of the calling, he doesn't have a sense of entitlement. He understands the grace he has been given which makes him humble. If this was how we truly saw ourselves, it would change the way we react and respond to so many situations. We wouldn't get so offended or feel so entitled to our "rights". We could respond humbly, we could serve rather than trying to be served. "Less than the least" yet he was still confident of who he was and what God had called him to do.

and here is how he views Christ.

Unsearchable riches of Christ He understands the greatness of Jesus. His life is about making the name of Christ great and what all he offers us known. He has experienced the riches in knowing him, knowing his love, knowing his grace, and he wants others to experience it too. The NLT says, "the endless treasures available in Christ." We have so much in Christ that it doesn't matter if I'm less than the least cause it's all about him. We get to spend our lifetime exploring the endless treasures available in him and the blessing that comes when my life isn't about me. In Christ we can more rightly view ourselves and him.

This is what I want to define me: servant of the Gospel. This is what I want my life to be about: Jesus. I think its a life long process to get there and I am far from it. Only by God's grace and power working in me can I ever become that. And the deeper I dive into the unsearchable riches of Christ, the more I explore the endless treasures in him, the more rightly I will view myself and him. And therefore, the less I will be a servant of me and the more I will become a servant of the Gospel.