For you
were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an
opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole
law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13-14
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. Because we’re
saturated with messages about self, it’s easy to bring this mentality to church
and expect the congregation to cater to us and to treat God like a genie whose
only purpose is to meet our needs. Many
times, our motto is “What can my church
do for me”, instead of “What can I do
for my Church and Christ”. Since we
follow a Savior who serves us, how can we not get out of our seats and into
service? We need some help learning how to live beyond self so that we can stop
defaulting to our selfish settings. Let’s
face it. We don’t really like to serve others and we don’t like to be under
another’s authority.
God Expects His People to Serve
A servant’s work is not
always glamorous. Let me state the obvious.
Sometimes serving is not very sensational. It involves exertion and often
exacts a price. Sometimes we recruit
people to a ministry by telling them how fun and easy it is to serve. We need
to stop soft-selling the Savior and the life of servanthood. Everything is not supposed to be fun all the
time. Servanthood is about
sacrifice. Giving. Putting others first and putting ourselves
aside. Fred Craddock, in a message to
ministers, once said: “To give my life
for Christ appears glorious. To pour myself out for others…to pay the ultimate
price of martyrdom – I’ll do it. I’m ready, Lord, to go out in a blaze of
glory…it would be easy to go out in a flash of glory; it’s harder to live the
Christian life little by little over the long haul.”
A Servant’s Service Never Ends
A servant serves
whenever, wherever, for whomever, doing whatever it takes. You may feel like you have done your time,
you have served in the nursery, taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, and
now you are done. Time for you to just sit
on the pew and soak it all up. There are
definitely times that it is important to just sit and be filled. Our cups need to be filled so we can pour out
to the next one who needs it. But that
doesn’t mean that you sit and be filled and never give it away. God’s desire for us is to share His Good
News, to minister to others, and to help those who are ministering to
others.
Being a “servant” doesn’t
mean occupying a servant-type position; instead, it means having an attitude of
life that attends to others’ needs without expecting or demanding anything in
return. The true reward for serving only
comes from God. It gives us purpose and an
opportunity to show gratitude for what God has done for us. There is no room for selfishness in
servanthood. It is all about
others.
What are you spending
your time on? What could you be doing
different that would lead you down the path of servanthood? Start today spreading the light and love of
Christ. We are never more like God than
when we are serving.
Scripture to Claim
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35
