Ephesians 3:7 - God's Waiter

"...of which I came to be a servant, according to the gift of the grace of God, the [one] having been given to me according to the working of the power of Him.’

-Paul is a prisoner, he is a house-steward, he is one entrusted with a magnificent mystery, and now he calls himself a servant.  A minister.  The Greek word gives us our English word, 'deacon', which is typically a servant leader in a local church, but for a better picture of this word, think 'waiter', aka a server.  These are the ones who do the thankless dirty work, working hard and tirelessly on behalf of those they serve, meeting needs, not at all in it for themselves or advancing their own personal interests.  Definitely not a job to which most would typically aspire.

-Paul, however, was not catering to the whims and fancies of some spoiled, hard-to-please resaurant-goer - he served on behalf of Jesus Christ and His Gospel, THE Good News, the News which was incomparably better by far than any news ever.  and to Paul, getting to be a servant of the Good News was a gracious gift from God.  God did him a glorious favor, 'cuz there was no greater privilege on earth than this.  Altho' Paul technically didn’t have much choice in the matter - God literally called him and chose him for this, arresting him as it were on that Damascene road, but in fact God had set Paul apart and was preparing him for this work from the day he was born (cf Galatians 1.15).  All his skills and gifts and education and experiences, not one bit of it was wasted, every last ounce of preparation honing him and getting him ready for the work God had for him.  And really, is there any greater blessing than to be spent in doing that for which you were always meant to do, what God made you to do?  And is there any higher privilege than to be used of Him in helping to advance the great Good News in the lives of others?

-Now, in spending himself as a servant, frequently in extreme hardship and beyond the point of exhaustion (cf 2Corinthians 11.23-28), Paul nevertheless was tireless, constantly faithful to his God-given role and filling up his calling, up to the task because he was powered up by almighty God Himself.  He understood and lived into the truth that God of all power indeed was the One Who was constantly at work in him, giving Paul all the power and motivation he needed in order to do all that God wanted him to do (Philippians 2.13).  He was going to finish the race, and he was running to win.