Romans 1:1 (ESV)
¹Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

From the moment Paul obeyed the gospel to the time he was executed at the hands of Nero, he was first and foremost a servant of Jesus Christ.  The Greek word for servant here is doulos and refers to the lowest kind of slave.  Vine says that doulos was “originally the lowest term in the scale of servitude,” and “came also to mean one who gives himself up to the will of another (Vine’s Expository Dictionary).  So then, two things are immediately apparent when it comes to being a slave.

First, a slave belongs to someone else. When Paul refers to himself as a servant of Jesus Christ, he is affirming that he belongs to Christ because he, like the rest of us, was bought for a price.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV)
¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Paul’s acknowledgment that he was the Lord’s servant led him to live his life for Jesus, for he knew that Jesus was his Master.

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
²⁰I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Like Paul, we are the purchased possession of Christ, and we should live like it.

Second, a servant is involved in service.  Wherever you have a servant, you also have service.  Now remember, this is a voluntary servitude, which means that the service is voluntary as well.  Paul served, sacrificed, and surrendered for Jesus in this life because he was the Lord’s servant.

What about us?  Our lives should be spent serving our Master.  Our aim should be to please Him more than anyone else, and if such is the case, it will be seen by our service and the way we live our everyday lives.

2 Timothy 2:4 (ESV)
⁴No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

If we are truly servants of Christ Jesus, it will be reflected by our speech, our dress, our treatment of others, both those in Christ and in the world, and, most importantly, by our overall faithfulness to God.   Let us all examine ourselves to be certain that we really are servants of Jesus, not just in word but also in deed.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.