If you have an ax to grind, then you will be unable to rightly connect with people around you. Something to sell, a pulpit to mount, a political agenda, a head to count, a dollar to add. People must be approached as persons to be loved, valued and respected. Using other people turns servanthood on its head and mocks anything that might be called “ministry”. Ministry is about serving, and not about being great; it is about the low seat and not about the chief seat. The world wants to use the little people to get to the top; the greatest in the kingdom are those who pour their lives out for people at the bottom.
“He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, ‘Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.’” Mark 9:35 (NLT2)
