A Servants Heart

I Took a nice 2 week vacation away from the DC area with my wife and son. The time away helped me get more perspective on the importance in living a life set apart to God. A life with real meaning, real purpose and one that reflects the new heart that God so graciously breathed into me. 

Lately I have focused my attention back on the Heart Of The Artist.

For the Christian artist there has to be a cultural shift from being self focused to being God focused. Boy, that is like walking a tightrope, a fine line between the praise we want from others and the pleasing work we do for God. 

Here is some more perspective on what the heart of the artist set apart to God needs to consider about Servant-hood:

Servant-hood is a counter-cultural notion; it goes
against human nature.

Pride is a hidden desire to be exalted.

Pride unfortunately is also one of those sins that is
so easy to see in others but not in ourselves.

The Bible says if you want to boast about something,
boast about God (2 Cor. 10:17).

If You want to boast about something boast about your
weakness and God's sufficiency (2 Cor 12:9).

A barrier to true servant hood is selfish ulterior
motives.

Another barrier to true servant-hood occurs when we put
all our confidence in our gifts, our natural
talent.

One of things that prevents us from experiencing God's
fullest blessing on our lives is our self-sufficiency.

When Artists have more confidence in their gifts and talents
than in the Lord, they leave the stage more worried
about how they looked or sounded than about whether
God used them. There more concerned with technique
than with substance.

Jesus is our ultimate example of servant-hood.

(Mark 10:45) "Even the Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
to many".

What it all boils down to is that Jesus would be a
servant artist.

Jesus said it himself: "The greatest among you will be
your servant" (Matt 23:11).

After 2000 years the picture of Jesus washing the
disciples' feet is etched in our minds as a picture of serving with humility.

True humility is not cutting yourself down or letting
people walk all over you.

Don't beat yourself down and call it humility.

We need to regard ourselves with sound judgement.

True humility means having an accurate view of
ourselves, thinking we're no more or less than we are.

We must know our strengths and our weaknesses.

We must know what we are good at and accept what we
are not good at.

My Father once told me that in order for me to be successful, I should  surround myself with the best people. He meant ones that were better at certain things than I was I need in order to get the job done right. That would take a lot humility but well worth the result. At the same time these same people should be trustworthy and have great character and integrity. With those qualities in place the chances of doing the job done right increase immensely.
Just Sayin....................Dave