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[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/jn_de_2019_03_28|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_ix|| Theme Collection ix ]]

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====== Princes and Servants ... ======

Thursday, March 28, 2019. There is a lot of struggle in politics. But there is a lot of struggle
as well if you work in a company, or if you want to achieve something in any other community. 
Where ever humans are together, they have different character, different preferences, different
talents and abilities, different capability to endure ... a lot of different things. 
 
How do we work together? Sometimes it is just working. If the right characters come to a table,
they might easily find a way to collaborate, to invest their personal strength and do great 
things! But it can also be different ... 

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** Jealousy ... **

Sometimes you find a lot of struggle in relationships you cannot avoid. It would be great if you 
could just leave all those in peace, which seem to have different ideas from yours how to work
together. But it is not always possible. Often, we are bound together either by our job or in 
our church or somewhere else. What to do?

The apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Korinthians, writes about struggle in church: 
 
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1 But I, brothers,1 could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 
</color> (from 1 Kor 3)

How do we get into a state where we work together and live together in peace? After years of 
work both in churches, Christian projects and with small and large groups in my job I would 
say that is a challenge and will remain a challenge. Humans are just very different! But there
are some basic point which can help you personally a lot ... 

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** Be a servant  ... **

Have a look at Jesus. He is said to be God, who be came human. He understood himself as a servant.
Of course, he was the master - he also communicated this to his disciples. But as a master, he
acted as a servant. He even called his disciples 'friends'. He tried to establish a new kind
of relationship, by giving himself as an example. 

As humans, and in particular as believers, we are sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus.
We are lifted up to a very valued position: sons and daughters of the most high. We are told that
the holy spirit enables us to know the truth, and to act in truth, to live in the truth. At the
same time, we are called to follow Jesus. We are called to become servants as he chose to become
a servant. We are called to make our own choices, to make this reality in our life. 

The balance between being prince and being servant at the same time bears a deep and fantastic
miracle. As servant, we can give all others full priority. As prince and princess we can realize
and accept the unbelievable value which God puts into our own life and existence, as he does
with all other princes and princesses, all other humans! The holy spirit is there to guide
us through this practically day by day ... 
(Roland Potthast)
[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/topics_collection_ix|... further texts]]
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