Identity: Who Am I, and Whose Am I? (Titus 1:1a NKJV)

Paul's letter begins, "Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ..."

Check out the sequence. Paul does not place "apostle" first. He puts "bondservant" (slave or servant) first, and "apostle" (one who is sent with authority) second.

Yes, Paul was important. He was an apostle. A man of spiritual authority and a church planter in the nations. He could’ve led with his position first, like most of us do, but he doesn't. He puts "servant" first.

What is Paul telling us here?
Paul is telling us something about order and priority. Before he is anything else, before he is a leader, a writer, a church-planter, a famous name in the Bible, he is first a servant who belongs to God.
We can understand it this way: a servant is not his own master. A servant hears the master and follows. So when Paul calls himself a "bondservant" he means: "I am not the boss around here. God is the boss. I do what He tells me to do."
Not until he has said this does he then introduce the fact that he is an apostle, one with authority.

So here’s the order. Servant first → Authority second.
The order is important. Paul is teaching us that authentic authority is meant to flow from submission to God. Not before it or in place of it.

So for those of us who have titles, positions, jobs. Perhaps you are a parent, a manager, a teacher, a pastor, a student, a business owner, a leader in some area of your life. So I have a question for you today. Which is more important to you, your job or your job as God's servant?

It's easy for us to find our identity in our work, in what we do. We're like, "I am a pastor," "I am a teacher," "I am doctor," and we let that be the main thing about us. But Paul is a picture of how it should be the other way around.
Before any title, before any role, before any success, we are servants of God first. Everything else (our job, our influence, our authority over others, our talents) is something we carry underneath that main identity, not above it. When we get this order right, it changes how we treat our role:

If you are a boss, you do not boast because you are a boss. You do not boss people around because you are a servant of the Lord.

You who are a parent, you instruct your children prudently, because you know that you will have to render an account to God for them.

If you are a leader (on social media, at church, at work), you handle it wisely, because it is not really "yours", it is from the One you serve.

But if we reverse the order, if we place our job or title first and see being a Christian as a little add-on afterward, our perspective is altered. We may start to get puffed up with pride, self-centered, or to use our position to further ourselves or in some cases abuse others, instead of serving.

Stop for a second and think of your role and tell yourself internally:

"I am a servant of God, who happens to also be a ______."

Do this silently in your head, you don't have to tell others. Does it change your perspective? Does it bring you more peace, humility, or service to others instead of self-service?
Viewing ourselves as SERVANTS FIRST should change the way we view our roles in anything we do. No matter what position or title we hold.


Gob bless brothers!