One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 4:5. Although many have favorited it for one reason or another, I stumbled across it many years ago for a different reason than most.
This verse puts all of life into the proper perspective. While the first part of the verse is wonderful, the second part is what grabbed my attention. The Scripture says ‘ourselves your servants because of Jesus’ and that is the part that I was looking for. To be sure we do not preach to promote ourselves, but to promote the Gospel of Christ. But it is this positioning of believers as servants to one another because of Christ that blessed me even more.
We live in a world full of oppression, manipulation, subversion, and downright deception. Virtually everyone is either bowing down to something/someone, or making others bow down to something/someone. And of course, we have those who want everyone to bow to them. It is a real mess.
So how does this verse help? What does it tell us? It shows us that there is a way to live without seeking to oppress, or being oppressive ourselves. We can, as Christ, come to minister to others. We are to be the servants of all because we serve the Lord Christ. Thus we live free from oppression regardless of our circumstances. And, rather than seeking to force others to our will, we serve them as Christ and allow them to respond to Him, in us.