Selfishness raises its head in strife and vainglory. Those who seek celebrity, close the door on service. “Strife” refers to a desire to put one's self forward. It’s a partisan and fractious attitude that promotes self interest. Vainglory means empty boasting. It’s an attempt to vaunt oneself. It’s not only associated with extreme pride and boastfulness, but also excessive and ostentatious vanity. Before most people consider serving they want to know, “What’s in it for me?”

  Paul challenges us to let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Not one thing—we should not allow ourselves ever to act out of strife or vainglory. What do we do instead? In lowliness of mind we esteem others better than ourselves. That’s genuine humility. “Better” means “superior” or “more important.” Servants who serve out of love esteem those they serve highly. They are worthy of the service.

  Although we are sons of God, we, like Jesus, take on the form of a servant and serve. He came not to be ministered unto but to minister. We follow his lead in this regard. Being convinced of our sonship is what allows us to engage in service. Knowing whose we are and whom we serve is as important to us as it was to Paul (Acts 27:23). We take our direction from God. He directs us into these ministering situations. We voluntarily and genuinely esteem others worthy of being served. We treat them with honor and respect and promote their best interests. We remain thankful to God for opportunities to serve. Pleasing Him should always be our priority.

  It does not say that others are better than those who serve them. It says we esteem them that way. We do not see ourselves as inferior; we are sons of God with all power. We simple esteem others to be more important than we are while we serve them. All God’s family has the same rank and privilege. When it’s our opportunity to serve we do it knowing full well that those we are serving deserve our best effort for we are not just serving them, we are serving God in the process. Paul knew he was not one bit behind the chiefest of the apostles, but he still choose to serve (II Corinthians 11:5; 12:11). He knew that he was not inferior to anyone, but he still esteemed others as superior to himself. That is just the simple heart of a servant. In serving people we serve the Lord.

  Paul even reminded slaves who were slaves indeed, that their service to their masters was also service to God.

  In the August 17th Sound-Out, “Serving,” we reviewed the Old Testament background of the doulos from Deuteronomy 15. I wanted to add something about the doulos that I learned since then. Once the servant and master agreed for the Hebrew servant to remain and become a bondslave, the ceremony that “sealed the deal” was when the earlobe of the doulos was placed against the doorpost of the master’s house and the master thrust an awl through it. When this act of commitment was complete, the slave became forever the property of the master, who assumed the responsibility for providing for and protecting his doulos from thence.

  The marking of the doulos by boring his ear against the doorpost left blood thereon. This was significant and was to serve as a reminder. In the Old Testament, there were three occasions when the doorpost was symbolic.

  The blood on the doorposts on this occasion symbolized their belief in the power of the blood of the lamb to save the firstborn from death. The blood prevented the destroyer from entering their homes and slaughtering their firstborn. The blood indicated that they believed God to protect them.