How God Is Reminding Me About Servant-Hearted Leadership

I was reading 1 Corinthians 10 this morning, as will as my bible’s commentary, and this explanation of verse 29 stood out:

“The exercise of one’s personal freedom is to be governed by whether it will bring glory to God, whether it will build up the church of God, and whether it will encourage the unsaved to receive Christ as Savior and Lord.”

And just a few verses before in verse 24, Paul says:

“Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.”

The other day, I was having a conversation with someone who was sharing about how they came back to faith, and one key part of his journey was the Holy Spirit revealing how the media can try to act like God doesn’t exist but that it was total nonsense.

When I read these verses, I thought of that conversation. About how media sources, from mainstream hard news to lifestyle sites, encourage us to focus on self betterment and maximizing our individual lives rather than principles like:

🩷 valuing others before ourselves (Philippians 2:3)

🩷 being servant hearted (Matthew 23:11), and 

🩷 exercising our personal freedom in ways that bring glory to God and encourage the unsaved to receive Christ as Savior (1 Corinthians 10:29, commentary)

…wouldn’t it be incredible if God’s truths were what we were bombarded with the most? 

I feel God changing me in this area though it’s no quick fix. Praise God for any pruning he does though, right? Maybe I (we?) should pray more boldly for God to help me live this way though and get rid of any self-focused life-long habits. 

One thing that I think will help is making sure God’s voice is louder than the world’s. When people ask us if we have “exciting weekend plans” (I have been asked this a lot lately!), may I be unashamed to share how I set aside time to spend with God.

Who and what do we live for? Let us consider this often and make sure our answer is God and his purposes. We don’t want to be lukewarm.

*And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best (see Philippians 1:9-11)

Lots of love, friends. Let’s keep seeking God, loving him wholeheartedly, and practicing servant-hearted leadership in line with his will.