“James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ…” James 1:1
I just began a study of James. Usually, I confess, I breeze right by the opening phrase, headed straight to the “meat” of “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you experience various trials…,” one of the staples of my youth.
So I was surprised to find this question in the Bible study (Tim Keller’s):
James identifies himself as first and foremost “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” What attitudes and behaviors characterize a servant?
Oh, man, I wish he hadn’t asked that. Even though yesterday I wrote about the importance of knowing who you are and where you are going each day of your life. Being dutiful, I wrote an answer:
“You own me God. I have nothing. Everything is yours. I surrender my agenda to yours. In fact, I don’t even have an agenda.”
I think it was a decent answer, though Type A personality that I am, I am going to revise the second part and say “It’s okay to have a plan, but I am willing to let you hijack it.”
The fact is, I didn’t like that answer though I thought it would have gotten at least a B on one of Mr. Yacoubian’s Bible exams if I had used more flowery language. So I really didn’t like the next question:
2. What fears and concerns arise in your heart when you consider God’s call to be a servant?
Again, I wrote honestly. Straight from the heart:
I’m afraid He’ll actually ask me to follow His plan for my life. And I won’t like it. Well, it’s not that I won’t like it, but I will have to go into unknown territories that I am afraid to move into, and that will cause me all sorts of discomfort, some personal — not being liked or understood, some physical — having to have another shoulder surgery, and some emotional — trials coming to my family.
Of course that answer was a FAIL. And yet, it led to good news. It showed me how self-centered I am — I answer the question, “I AM QUEEN OF MY UNIVERSE” — without the divine interruption of the transforming work of Christ. I am a servant of the King, and He is drawing me into some really wild stories. And those will take me to the next question, on verse 2: “Consider it all joy my brothers and sisters when you encounter various trials…”
But that’s enough for today. I am a beloved daughter of the King, and I’ve got some things to do.
