Knowing and Being Known

Knowing God, p. 36-7 “Whether being a servant is a matter for shame or for pride depends on whose servant one is.”

This point in the chapter may have been meant to be an aside, but it reminded me of a quote I read in the first few pages of John Piper’s The Pleasures of God. Henry Scougal said, “The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” It is often thought that being a servant is an unfavorable position. Yet, this is not so in God’s Kingdom. Even more so, Christians get to serve “the Lord of heaven and earth!” The object of our love is Jesus Christ, whose worth cannot be measured. “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my god than dwell in the tents of the wicked” (Ps. 84:10) (How amazing that the Lord Jesus came not to be served but to serve sinners (Matt. 20:28). The worth of Christ is in NO way measured by the sinners He came to ransom. Rather, those who know God serve a God who took “the very nature of a servant” and who “humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:11,12)) The life of a person who has been called by God is transformed. Knowing more of God will cause greater delight in the servant of God. We do not add anything to God by being his servants, but rather his infinite worth is of his very nature and is independent of us. The worth and excellency of our Love is beyond what our hearts and minds can grasp.