James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  –James 1:1a

I got to thinking about something the other day: what word would you choose to describe your relationship with God?  Uncertain?  Distant?  Follower?  It’s interesting to me that Jesus’ brother, James, chose the word “servant.”  He really had a big list of words he could have used, but for some reason the word servant best depicted his relationship.  So what does it mean to be a servant?  Here are a couple of things I thought about:

• A servant never wants to grieve his master.  As cheesy as this sounds, the TV show “Downton Abbey” depicted this clearly when Bates resigned from his job rather than allowing his master’s name to be dragged through the mud.  A servant is looking out for the best interest of his master.
• A servant takes joy in fulfilling whatever the master asks him to do.  Regardless of the task, the servant understands that the carrying on of the master’s affairs is of utmost importance and therefore finds joy.  There is no task that is below his or her pay grade.

Can you describe your relationship with your heavenly Father as that of a servant?  Though it seems lowly, there is no higher calling for which you can strive.