Achieving a Servant's Heart

Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, was on his way to Damascus with a small army to take Christians captive, bring them back to Jerusalem, and imprison and torture them. But Jesus appeared to Saul on the Damascus road, blinding him. “And [Saul] was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank” (Acts 9:9).

In those three days’ time, Saul’s mind was being renewed. He spent the entire time in intense prayer, considering his past life, and he began to despise what he had been. That is when Saul became Paul.

This man had been very proud, full of misguided zeal. He sought the approval of other high-minded religious men but then he said, “I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Paul was a man who could say, “I once was somebody. All my peers, including my fellow Pharisees, looked up to me. I was climbing the ladder, and I was considered a holy man, a powerful teacher of the law. I had a reputation in the land and was blameless in the eyes of the people.

“But when Christ apprehended me, everything changed. The striving, the competing — everything that I thought gave my life meaning — was surrendered. I saw that I had missed the Lord completely.”

Paul thought his religious ambitions — his zeal, his competitive spirit, his works, his busyness — were all righteousness. But Christ revealed to him that it was all flesh, all for self. Therefore, Paul stated, “I laid aside all desire for success and recognition and I determined to be a servant” (see 1 Corinthians 9:19).

If you desire to be emptied of self, ambition and worldly reputation, I encourage you to follow Paul’s example. I know of no other way to achieve a servant heart except through prayer.