Submitted by Lara
Cook
Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for man. Matthew 20:26–28
Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for man. Matthew 20:26–28
We
live in a “me-first” culture that encourages us to think of ourselves first and
others…well, rarely. We’re told to focus on our self-image, to be involved in
self-actualization and to be self-reliant. But, if we just get our cups filled and
keep it all to ourselves, we will never be blessed. We will be hoarders of God’s love and light. Serving
others helps take the focus off ourselves and see others as Jesus does. God calls us to give away His love and
blessing to others and we will never really know true blessing until we give it away. Allow God’s grace and love to spill out of
your life to others.
You Can’t Give Empty Away
You can’t give away something that you don’t have. If you are running on empty and need to be replenished yourself, chances are that you won’t have much to offer anyone else. In fact, you can get to the point of even being a detriment to others when you are bone dry and depleted. It is true that you cannot pour from an empty cup, but there have been times I have felt so empty and yet found myself focused on and serving others and my cup began to fill up. We can be filled by serving others.
You can’t give away something that you don’t have. If you are running on empty and need to be replenished yourself, chances are that you won’t have much to offer anyone else. In fact, you can get to the point of even being a detriment to others when you are bone dry and depleted. It is true that you cannot pour from an empty cup, but there have been times I have felt so empty and yet found myself focused on and serving others and my cup began to fill up. We can be filled by serving others.
When
we try to fill ourselves up with all the world offers, we eventually will be
left feeling dissatisfied. Alone, wealth
and influence will not change the world and they will cease to fulfill our
hearts after time. So much time is spent
chasing our careers, money, and hobbies and in the end, we still feel the same emptiness
or worse. That valuable time could be used
to do things for other people and really make a difference in the world and in
our hearts. We are the church and our purpose from the beginning of time has
been to build God’s kingdom. Together we are all the building blocks of His
kingdom. We were made to complement each other with our different gifts and
talents. Serving others helps us to find
what we are passionate about. It helps
us find our spiritual gifts and our strengths and builds self- confidence.
Peace
and fulfillment can be our experience from serving others because we know that
we are doing the right thing. We are
being obedient to Christ and His commands when we serve and sharing God’s love
and grace that we have experienced and passing it on to others who need
it.
Scripture to Claim:
For even the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45 NLT
