The Heart of a Servant

by Patrice Tsague, RCE Partner

But thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. I Samuel 13:14

In I Samuel chapter 13 we learn about God's rejection of King Saul, the first king of Israel. King Saul had only reigned for one year and in his second year he found himself in the midst of war against the Philistines. Because he was afraid of losing the battle, he became impatient and took it upon himself to make sacrifices to God instead of following the instructions of the Prophet Samuel, which would have required him to wait for Samuel to arrive.

Saul's actions demonstrated a lack of faith in God's sovereignty and he violated the division of labor. Although he was king, only the priests were permitted to conduct the sacrifices to God. As a result, king Saul's actions had great consequences:

1. His kingdom would not reign forever
2. His son could not inherit the kingdom
3. Jesus Christ would not come through his lineage

When God's servants act in disobedience the consequences are both temporal and eternal. The consequences of their disobedience not only affect them but generations after them. God is after our heart not our actions. He said to obey is better than to sacrifice. David, the second king of Israel, committed a more grievous sin; he committed adultery with a married woman and killed her husband to conceal his sin but his heart never turned against God. Once he was confronted by the prophet Nathan he quickly repented.

Where is your heart? Are you a man or woman after God's own heart? As Biblical Entrepreneurs we are called to have the heart of a servant. The heart is the inner self that thinks, feels and decides. It is the central part of a person. It is the part of our being that experiences emotions such as love and hate. Every victory and failure that we experience begins in our heart. That is why the Bible says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Saul's problem was a heart problem; even when confronted by the prophet he did not repent but stubbornly continued on the path of disobedience and pride.

God wants us to be sensitive to His Spirit and His will at all times. We must resist pride and always be quick to repent when we find ourselves in violation of God's will. Developing the heart of a servant is the key to our success in the marketplace; it enables us to be led by God's Spirit and to put the needs of our customers and employees before our own. Like David, we will make mistakes but will we quickly repent once confronted by God or will we choose the ways of Saul?

God does not expect perfection but He does expect righteousness; a righteousness that is of God and not based on our own standards, a righteousness that relies solely on the shed blood of Jesus Christ. A righteousness that recognizes that though we are imperfect, through the shed blood of Christ we are made perfect before God and that the only way to maintain that perfection is to stay in Christ.