The Greatness of a Servant’s Heart – Nehemiah 5 – Episode 57

Intro (00:02):

Are you ready to embrace a little stillness, some rest for your soul today. Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments podcast, where we stop and study God’s words and encourage one another to know Him better and love Him more. This Sweet Selah Moments podcast is brought to you by Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole (00:28):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments podcast. Today on episode 57, we’re going to talk about the greatness of a servant’s heart. Sharon. I love how Jesus emphasizes that if we want to be great in His kingdom, we need to be a servant. I’m excited to see this reflected in Nehemiah’s life, but first do you have any stories of great people being servant hearted in your past?

Sharon (00:51):

That’s a very nice question. I’m actually going to start with someone that I don’t know personally, and I’m not talking politics here. I’m just saying President Jimmy Carter could have finished presidenting and gone back to his peanut farm and done nothing. And that is not what he did. He has worked with Habitat For Humanity for forever building houses himself. (Nicole: Oh wow!) I remember a picture of him in his nineties, maybe 89. I mean, super not young anymore. He’s still doing it himself. And I just, I love that sort of lead by example kind of servant hood. And he really did. And our pastors have the same way in our church. We’ve got the pastor that can work on your car and we’ve got the pastors that time after time are moving, we are the moving-est church. I feel like every week someone’s moving. (Nicole: It’s true!) Our pastors are there. I can remember one move that Ray and I helped somebody make, and we could not get the washer and dryer out ourselves and some other people that were supposed to come did not. And so I called in a panic. Do you know, two pastors were over within half an hour instead of finding someone else, they just came themselves.

Nicole (02:05):

Oh, I love that.

Sharon (02:06):

It’s just, it’s just wonderful. It’s just really impressive. It’s so heartwarming to see our leadership right there with everyone else pounding the nails on the new gym floor or pouring the concrete or moving the washing machine. I love the upside down kingdom Jesus commands for us. None of us are above changing a messy diaper or cleaning up a spill. None of us. How about you? Any examples?

Nicole (02:34):

I was just remembering when the pastors, I had four babies, so I was in the hospital quite a bit with them. They all came and visited when we had the new baby and one of them isn’t particularly fond of newborns. And he came in and he even held her and that his wife told me later, oh yeah, he’s not a big fan of babies. I’m like, oh, that was so sweet. He came to see me though and held my sweet baby and told me she was beautiful. Even if he maybe didn’t feel it. I thought that was sweet. And they sent flowers to the hospital. (Sharon: Wow!). It’s usually, you know, men don’t really love to get excited about babies in the hospital, but they came and visited and I thought that was so sweet. I love that. Yeah. Then one of my dentists I used to assist would come back into the sterilization area where we would process and wrap the instruments to be sterilized. And he would be back there wrapping instruments and processing the instruments. And then he would even come back into the lab and pour up the dental mold, which is very messy work, but he didn’t feel like he was above it. You know, even though he was the boss, he was still back there doing. (Sharon: I love that.) I did too, I appreciated that.

Sharon (03:33):

That’s nice. Something about the leader, quote, “getting their hands dirty with you”, makes you want to do the work more.

Nicole (03:39):

Yes. It’s very Encouraging.

Sharon (03:40):

It is. Well, here we are with Nehemiah doing exactly that. He came to Jerusalem with a full authority of the greatest king at that time to boss people around if he’d wanted to. He had letters of introduction. He had permission to build a house and get the wall project done. He sure could have lorded it over everyone and marched around making them work. Right. But we’ve already seen that he didn’t, he was working with them the whole time. He didn’t change his clothes either.(Nicole: I know.) So last week we studied the wall building, but right in the middle of the wall building another problem arose. Today, we’re going to look at Nehemiah chapter five and see servant leadership at its finest. So Nicole, let’s read verse by verse. You start with the first one and we’ll go back and forth.

Nicole (04:28):

All right. So Nehemiah chapter five, verse one. About this time, some of the men and their wives raise the cry of protest against their fellow Jews.

Sharon (04:36):

They we’re saying we have such large families, we need more food to survive.

Nicole (04:42):

Others said, we have mortgaged, our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food. During the famine.

Sharon (04:48):

Another said, we have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes.

Nicole (04:53):

We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy and our children are just like theirs. Yet. We must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters and we are helpless to do anything about it for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others.

Sharon (05:10):

When I heard their complaints, I was very angry.

Nicole (05:14):

After thinking it over, I spoke out against these Nobles and officials. I told them you are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when they borrow money. Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem.

Sharon (05:25):

At the meeting I said to them, we are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners. But you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them? And they had nothing to say in their defense.

Nicole (05:44):

Then I pressed further. What are you doing? What you are doing is not right. Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations?

Sharon (05:54):

I, myself, as well as my brothers and my workers been lending the people money and grain. But now let us stop this business of charging interest.

Nicole (06:03):

You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this very day and repay the interest you charged them when you lent them money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.

Sharon (06:14):

They replied, we will give back everything and demand nothing more from the people. Wow. The sigh was mine, but don’t you feel like they were like, oh yeah, we’ll do as you say. Then I called the priests and made the Nobles and officials swear to do what they had promised. (Nicole: Good Idea.)

Nicole (06:32):

I shook out the folds of my robe and said, if you fail to keep your promise, may God shake you like this from your homes and from your property. The whole assembly responded Amen. And they praise the Lord. And the people did as they had promised

Sharon (06:53):

The entire 12 years that I was governor of Judah from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of the reign of King Artaxerxes- Neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance.

Nicole (07:07):

The former governors in contrast had laid heavy burdens on the people demanding a daily ration of food and wine besides 40 pieces of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act this way.

Sharon (07:23):

I also devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire any land. And I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall.

Nicole (07:33):

I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands,

Sharon (07:41):

The provisions I paid for each day included one ox, six choice sheep, or goats, and a large number of poultry. And every 10 days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine. Yet I refused to claim the governor’s food allowance because the people already carried a heavy burden.

Nicole (07:58):

Remember, oh my God, all the things I have done for these people and bless me for it.

Sharon (08:04):

Oh my goodness, Nicole, I’m still stuck back where they were selling their daughters because they’d already mortgaged their lands and they had nothing else. I can’t even!

Nicole (08:15):

That kills me. I think because both of us are mothers of all daughters, this especially tugs at our hearts, you know, the thought of being so in debt that you have to sell your kids for food is just heartbreaking. And it’s even harder to read that it was happening in families, that this was all being done to their very own relatives.

Sharon (08:32):

I know. I know. It’s unbelievable. It’s like telling your cousin, well, I guess you’re going to have to sell your daughter in order to eat and she’ll eat ’cause she’ll be a slave of someone else. Too bad for you.

Nicole (08:44):

I know, I have nieces and I love them like my own kids. And if they were in trouble, I would do all I could to help them.

Sharon (08:50):

So that little phrase, after they talk about that part, where Nehemiah goes, “I was very angry”. I’m like, oh yeah that’s an understatement!

Nicole (08:58):

This is not good.

Sharon (09:00):

So we’re going to look at this passage and we’re going to divide it into three sections. One: the complaint. Two: The Solution. And then three: the part about servanthood, really the leading by example. So, but we’re going to start with the complaint. Nicole, what seems to be the problem here?

Nicole (09:20):

So it seems the problem is that these poor families are growing in numbers and they’re really struggling here and they can’t get ahead at all because they’re so far in debt that they have nothing left to pay or exchange for food. Their relatives, and people buying them, and loaning the money or charging them interest too. So they really have no hope of getting out of this dire situation.

Sharon (09:38):

They don’t. Everything is mortgaged. They’re stuck. They really are. It’s, it’s so sad when this happens and the wealthy get wealthier and the poor have no chance to redeem themselves because they have nothing from which to work. Right. And we see that in our own country. If you don’t own a home, then how do you have anything to leave your children to help life be a little better? And you know, it gets more and more disparate unless we find a way to help those that are poor, at least have a leg up so that they have equal ground in which to start from. It’s really hard. So anyways, okay. So Nehemiah, of course, hears this story and comes up with point number two: The solution. I really love verses six and seven. When I heard their complaints, I was very angry after thinking it over.

Sharon (10:31):

I spoke out against these Nobles and officials, Nehemiah is mentoring me basically, you know, as I’m listening, cause he’s telling what’s happening, but he’s also telling me what he’s thinking and how he’s dealing with it. So I love that when Nehemiah’s anger was apparent to him. “I was very angry” I’m like, I was mad as all get out! His first response to it was: think. Cause I’m very angry after thinking it over. So first he’s angry. And then instead of responding and reacting in anger, which, oh, I might’ve done a time or seven. He thinks about it. Stunning. (Nicole: Yeah, he’s so wise.) But then I also love how forceful he is. He talks to them first alone. So they know what’s coming at the public meeting, but then he has a public meeting and he calls out the wealthy on this big time. They’ve already been talked to, he spoke out to the Nobles,

Sharon (11:25):

Then he calls upon meeting and he calls them out publicly. He very much tells them off. It sounds like the problem was not paying back the original amounts. It was the exorbitant interest on the amounts that they charged and all that they kept getting in interest. The guys couldn’t even pay on the principal. They’re paying the interest. He’s out and out angry with them. They’re your own people. Good grief. Stop being greedy and take care of each other. He must have been a very powerful and persuasive speaker because they had nothing to say in their own defense.

Nicole (11:54):

Yeah. I noticed that there was no debate or back and forth. Right. They accepted his words. And that was it.

Sharon (12:00):

Wow, we’ve behaved badly. Yes we have. And they meekly said that they’d give the interest back and more cause that’s part of the solution. So here’s the rest of it. Nehemiah says, now let us stop this business of charging interest. You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this very day and repay the interest you charge when you let the money, grain, new wine and olive oil. And they replied, we will give back everything and demand nothing more. Oh Yay!

Nicole (12:29):

That’s a sweet relief to them.

Sharon (12:31):

I know! They had all the stuff. They don’t need anything more. Goodness! “We will do, as you say, then I called the priest and made the Nobles swear to what they had promised.” Part of the solution is, holding their little feet to the fire or their fingers to the, not a pen. What did they have back then? A quill. (Laughter) “I shook out the folds of my robe and said, if you fail to keep your promise, may God shake you like this.” Good gravy!

Nicole (12:56):

I love that. He was a very good people- Like, he was a good speaker and a good motivational speaker with what are those called: analogies.

Sharon (13:04):

Yes. There was a visual. Do you see what I’m doing? I’m shaking my robe. May God shake you like this if you don’t do what you say.

Nicole (13:10):

I love that. I might use it on my kids tonight. (Laughter) Just kidding, Probably not.

Sharon (13:15):

And the whole assembly responded. “Amen.” But then, they praise the Lord. Oh, that’s interesting too. Despite his anger, they must have known, he loved them. I mean, he’s been working with them. He said, we’ve already talked about, he knew all their names and all this stuff and he did talk to them privately first.

Nicole (13:36):

Yes, I think that was really important. He was a good people person and the fact that they praise the Lord afterward, they could see, he was speaking on God’s behalf or he was speaking with his heart close to God. He wasn’t just telling them what he thought. I think that’s why they received it. So well.

Sharon (13:50):

Yes. I agree because they didn’t stomp off and pout.

Nicole (13:54):

Right they weren’t saying, “ah that Nehemiah. Who does he think he is?” You know?

Sharon (13:58):

They agreed. They said, we’ll give it all back. We won’t demand anything more. So they instantly become heroes right. In the public assembly. The people are like, “Thank you, thank you.” And so then they praise the Lord. What a sweet ending. A lot of arguments don’t end that well.

Sharon (14:15):

He was pretty courageous when he saw that wrongdoing. Right? I’m not always that courageous when I see something that’s wrong, you know, he was both bold and persuasive and, I need to be more like that. I think I can be persuasive when I want to be, but I have to be persuasive about the hard things too, you know, not just the easy things.

Nicole (14:41):

I know. I want to think I could stand up for injustice and be ready if it’s in my power, but it can be scary to go against a large crowd (Sharon: and that’s what he did.) Yeah. And they were all the wealthier, more influential people too. So they had power to probably make his life pretty miserable if they didn’t agree with him. And that’s intimidating. It is. And he did it. Yeah. But I love how he offered a good solution and he presented them with the problem. And instead of him just getting angry and kind of yelling about the problem, he presented them with a solution as well as a way to get out of it. He’s very smart.

Sharon (15:11):

He really is. Yeah. I think that was great that he did that. I’m thinking of an incident. I could give you so many when I didn’t speak up when I should have, but I can think of one in particular, was a woman I didn’t know that well. And she had a little boy that she’d taken into her home who was not behaving well and I think he had had a bad background, so he’s kind of a foster child. She’d yelled at him to the point where he was laying, curled up and crying. (Nicole: Oh my Goodness.) And then she brought me in and said, “look at him, the sniveling mess. This is why he’s like this because he didn’t do these things.” And I can remember feeling so uncomfortable, Nicole, because I didn’t want to hear it. And I mumbled something about, “oh, I’m sure he’ll try harder.” And looking back, I have apologized to God for that more times than I need to, because he does forgive me after the first time. Why didn’t I say more? You know, why didn’t I say, “Hey, Hey, Hey, look at what you’ve done to him.” Or at least pull her out of the room and maybe not embarrassed her in front of the little boy, but I didn’t respond like I should have. I was not courageous when I needed to be. Nehemiah would have been bolder. I don’t know what he would’ve said.

Nicole (16:21):

He would have shaken his robes at her!

Sharon (16:25):

I know. And I was so intimidated by not wanting to offend her. Because you don’t want to interfere with someone’s parenting. And she was clearly mad, you know, but I never even went back to her later. And thought it over and said something else. So anyways, that’s just one example of many where a little more courage would have been good. All right. So we’ve looked at the complaint and the solution that Nehemiah demanded. Now let’s look at how he leads by example, Nicole, there’s so many ways he led by example. Can you talk us through that?

Nicole (16:58):

Going back through those verses, we can see Nehemiah living out the very plan he was telling the people to follow. Again, he was that good servant leader and doing it and not just telling them what to do. As an official he was allotted a daily food ration that the people would supply, but he didn’t take this. And instead he had been lending his own money and grain to the people. So in contrast, the former leaders have been very greedy and demanded their daily ration of food and wine and a large amount of money from them, even though the people were struggling. And then again, we see Nehemiah out there working on the wall, right along with the people. And he had his own servants! He didn’t say, wow, you guys stay here and get my house. You know, he didn’t take care of his own needs, he gave everything. Just a really great servant leader there. And then I love this. He fed nearly 150 Jews at his table. Even all the visitors that happened by.

Sharon (17:52):

Can you imagine the table? Is that figurative?

Nicole (17:55):

Was it all at once or in groups? That’s a lot of people!

Sharon (17:58):

Maybe at the table means in his big dining hall? (Nicole: Amazing.) It’s so fascinating to me.

Nicole (18:04):

Very Fascinating! He didn’t just like give them bread and wine. They list his grocery bill as it were back then. And he listed an ox and six choice goats and sheep and lots of chickens. Like he fed them well.

Sharon (18:16):

He did. I’m so impressed. Not just the leftovers. And I’m wondering, where did the money come from? It doesn’t (Nicole: Yeah, I was wondering about that) it doesn’t mention he had a wife and kids, so maybe he just used his own personal money?

Nicole (18:31):

That’s what I was thinking, maybe the king, King Artaxerxes sent him with some, I don’t know. Maybe he had saved up money during his time there. I don’t know if he was employed or enslaved as a King’s cup bearer.

Sharon (18:39):

I don’t either, because he obviously had a private fund that he wasn’t taking the Governor’s pension that he could have taken.

Nicole (18:46):

But he was still able to feed lots of people and give money. So he must have had some things. He’s not a dumb, I bet he had some money tucked away.

Sharon (18:54):

Knowing Nehemiah. He probably had a plan carefully, whatever little salary he got. (Nicole: I bet he did) And traded for things and sold them at a great, I don’t know, Nehemiah figured it out. We are not privy to that.

Nicole (19:08):

His financial situation: I’m sure he was quite wise with it.

Sharon (19:12):

I just love how he’s like, no, I see you guys are giving all you can. I’m not asking for anything. And boy, who do you want to follow more as a leader? He’s getting his hands dirty with them. He’s sweating in his clothing, building the wall with them. His servants are all working. Like you said, not for him, but for the good of the community. And he’s feeding people.

Nicole (19:38):

I know, I love that, even visitors that have happened to come in. He just fed them.

Sharon (19:42):

Maybe that’s one reason when he lectured the wealthy people alone and then together that they really had nothing to say. You know, they couldn’t say, well, look at you, you’re getting the Governor’s pension and you’re charging 40 pieces of silver beside, but he wasn’t. He was just giving out of his own stuff.

Nicole (20:02):

That’s true. They had no argument cause he’d been living it.

Sharon (20:05):

So that’s a servant leader. Jesus loves servant leaders. So even though Nehemiah’s sort of, cursing at some of these people might not have been Jesus’ cup of tea. But I think that the God must’ve been so pleased with this servant heart, in so, so many ways. All right, we’re going to now go to the New Testament and look at a couple of passages that underline this idea of servant hood in leadership. And I’m going to have you do the first one and then I’ll do the second to finish up because this is important. We’re all- If we’re a mother, we’re a leader of our kids, right? In almost every situation we lead somebody. So I think it applies to most of us at some point.

Nicole (20:47):

Absolutely. So let’s see what Jesus says about it. Not just Nehemiah, who is flawed and human. So we’re, I’m going to read Mark 10: 35-45. “Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. ‘Teacher,’ they said. ‘We want you to do us a favor.’ ‘What is your request?’ He asked. They replied, ‘When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you. One on your right and the other on your left.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘you don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?’ ‘Oh yes’ they replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus told them, you will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering.

Nicole (21:37):

But I have no right to say, who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.’ When the 10 other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, you know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and the officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you, it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” How beautiful. So of course, here we have the perfect example of the greatness of the servant’s heart in Jesus. He was the ultimate servant king and everything he did on earth, and the way he lived, was such a great example of that. And he said that his whole life was a ransom. A sacrifice meant to be poured out. That’s amazing when you really think about it, Sharon, like his whole life was meant to give away. Goodness, I have a hard time giving away a whole hour to someone else sometimes. So selfish!

Sharon (22:43):

I do too. Especially if it’s that hour after lunch, when I finally get to sit and the phone rings, I’m like, I don’t want to answer it, I am on my time! And he poured out his life (Nicole: continually) He did! I mean, he lay on the ground asleep, but he didn’t have a house. He never of course had a family, other than his disciples. He just poured it out.

Nicole (23:09):

Yep. The ultimate example.

Sharon (23:11):

Yeah. And if you read some of the, especially Mark. Mark is the action guy and he would just see Jesus doing all this action, you know? And then there were blind men, and then Peter’s mother in law needed healing, and then there was the demon possessed person. I mean, he just poured out in healing over and over again, too. Morning until night, some days. The Bible said He was so busy he didn’t have time to eat. (Nicole: Oh my goodness.) And he continued to serve as there were needs. I just love Jesus in so many ways. And the humility of our Lord is stunning. No wonder he has now been raised to the highest place. Oh wow.

Sharon (23:51):

All right, well, I’ve got one more and it’s from Ephesians 5, verses 25 through 29 and it picks up where we are talking about husband and wife relationships. For husbands, this means love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church. He gave his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church, without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead she, the church will be holy and without fault. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives. As they love their own bodies for a man who loves his wife, actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body, but feeds and cares for it. Just as Christ cares for the church. You know, Ray always tells me: “I have the harder job. Supposedly I’m in charge and I’m supposed to always let you win. Always put your needs before my own. Always make sure that you are fully everything God made you to be.

Sharon (24:55):

So you’re presented without spot or blemish. This is not a big thrill, Sharon. You’re in charge. Now take care of Sharon and make her all she’s meant to be” right. So he’s so cute. He’s so fun. He’s supposed to care about my needs and love me as if I was his own flesh. (Nicole: Wow. Yeah). And to not want any harm to befall me instead wanting my best at all times. So I can be all God wanted me to be, I’ll tell you a real practical way Ray does this. He hates it when I’m gone, he hates it. He wants me home with him. He’s a home body. He wants me home. And yet I have felt called to this ministry. And part of that is speaking places. And when we talked about it, he said, I don’t like it, but I believe it’s what you’re supposed to do.

Sharon (25:41):

This is how God wired you. This is what God’s called you to. So you go. (Nicole: That’s so sweet.) Yeah. That’s a sacrificial love. It really is.

Nicole (25:50):

He’s not demanding or saying, well, this is what I would like or would rather have. So that is sweet. So he is doing what he needs to do.

Sharon (25:56):

He is, and he’s really good at it. God calls husbands to serve their wives. Any idea that husbands being head of the home gives them the right to be bossy is turned on its head with this passage. And Jesus’ example, all of us are to practice servant leadership. We lead from a position of humility. We lead from a position of helping those we’re in charge of. It’s so different. It’s so counterintuitive. And even the Christian Church, you know, it’s easy for men to get this wrong. you’re in “Oh yeah, I am in charge here,” Well you are in charge so you can serve your wife. So what about mothering?

Nicole (26:46):

I think there’s a lot of that servant hood leadership role too, because I don’t just tell my girls what to do. I have to show them too. So there’s a humbleness and okay, you do this and you do that. And you, you know, but getting down and showing them how to do the things and showing them how to live. And even in my own walk with God, showing them the, “mommy made a big mistake” and showing them how I come to God and ask for forgiveness and modeling that relationship. That was hard at first to be that vulnerable, because you feel like as a mom, you have to have it kind of all together for your kids and they can clearly see I don’t. So I might as well be honest with it going back to God.

Sharon (27:23):

Yes. Well, that’s better because as, as they get older, they’ll spot the flaws. So if you’re like, Hey, I already told you, right. We all know we have flaws! My girls and I have actually, I’ve said this before, had fun kind of picking apart some of my flaws as a mother so that they would be better mothers. And, I join in it. I’m like, yeah, I was so harsh, you know, in this area. And I love how you girls aren’t, you know? So that’s fun though.

Nicole (27:54):

That takes some confidence in God. I don’t know if I’m super excited about doing that quite yet.

Sharon (27:57):

It took me a while. I kind of liked the looking up to me stage, that was really fun. But realistically I’m a sinner and I did not parent them perfectly. And they won’t parent perfectly either. So let’s learn, let’s take the things, where I could have done better and let’s learn from it.

Nicole (28:19):

And then the servanthood of mothering too. It’s nice to have that like companionship with God. You know what I mean? Because there is so much of, we pour out so much of ourselves for our kids and we give up even more for them. Even our older kids, if they’re going through a struggle, you’re going to drop things and go help out your daughters. Even if they are mothers themselves. (Sharon: Absolutely.) So in that serving, we, I feel closer to God because he also served and he poured out and he can fill us that we’re not always just empty. (Sharon: Right). Because he understands that role of the busy. And especially as a mama from sunup to sundown, some days we don’t have time to eat. So to know that Jesus knew that gives me like, oh, you see me right now as I’m eating goldfish and running out the door to pick up my kids lately, you see me, God, and you love me.

Sharon (29:06):

You see me as I’m cleaning up the third spilled milk of the day, give me patience, I know they’re just growing and their little fingers are longer than they thought they were. But that’s, it can be so hard to be patient. And mama does a lot of cleaning up spills.

Nicole (29:22):

So many spills. And now Puppy messes too. So it just keeps going!

Sharon (29:24):

Then you become a Nina and you’re still cleaning.

Nicole (29:30):

(Laughter) More messes! And you are like, wait a minute!

Sharon (29:34):

When do I get to rest? (Laughter) Exactly. And actually, when I think about it, when I get to rest is when I’m not going to be able to move my body. You know, people will have to serve me then. And I’m not in a hurry to get to that state.

Nicole (29:47):

No! I am with you there, let’s keep moving a little while.

Sharon (29:50):

Right! oh my! Well friends, we’re going to pray now, as we continue to think about what it means to be really great in God’s eyes, by servanthood. So let’s pray. Oh Lord, you are such a great example. As you, Jesus, left heaven to walk among us and to feel what we feel and to suffer, sleeping on a hard ground and being thirsty and hungry and exhausted. We honor you, you are worthy of the highest place and help us when we want to lord it over others. Because it’s our human tendency. Help us to serve. And to know that we are following right in your footsteps, you who washed dirty disciples feet. When we serve. In Jesus name. Amen.

Nicole (30:48):

Thank you for joining our chatter today, friend, we hope it has challenged you to lead by serving in your own sphere of influence. You can find us at Sweetselah.org/podcast if you want to share your thoughts with us. If you want to become a podcast partner and get our monthly email letters donate any recurring amount at sweet Sweetselah.org/donations and write podcast partner in the comments. We’ll see you next week for Episode 58: Finishing Well. God bless you, As you serve in his kingdom.

Outro (31:18):

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. This Sweet Selah Moments podcast is a co-operative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found SweetSelah.Org. Thank you for joining us.