Christian are called to serve. But this service is not done begrudgingly but generosity and joy. Service is sweet and active, but it is also one of those rare opportunities for love. By its nature, service gets people together for an agreed-upon task and purpose, making it a fertile ground for fellowship.
To be sure, the service we are referring to here is the kind that has no eye on repayment, that is done purely out of a motivation of love. This kind of service is sweet and robust; it is gracious and godly; and, what's more, it has been commanded as a vital part of the Christian life.
Unfortunately, we have often thought of service as a chore and not as a gift of grace. We have refused to serve because we have thought it an obligation, or we have spurned the opportunities to serve because we couldn't see the personal benefit.
But service is a gift of grace in itself. It is a joyous salve for the weary heart. For anyone who may feel downtrodden or enervated, service may be the very cure for all your languor. It is through service that that love of God passes through us. We truly become vessels for the love of God when we serve.
Let us then never lose sight of service in our lives. Let us make it part of our schedule. For when we serve others, we will be served ourselves by God Himself as His Spirit flows through us unto others. This is a beautiful and sweet transmission. And truly, there is no substitute for service.
Showing posts with label serving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label serving. Show all posts
Friday, February 15, 2013
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Serving like a Russian Rabbi
There was a certain rabbi that lived in a small village in the heart of western Russia. It was a small town with a nearly entirely Jewish population. This rabbi was known for being a wise, kind, and sincere man. But he was also known for something else. On Friday mornings he would disappear for hours.
The rabbi's disciples would tell everyone that the rabbi spent the early hours of Friday morning communing with God in heaven. In fact, the story of the rabbi's fantastical Friday morning forays had spread to the surrounding towns and villages. A man who lived in one of those neighboring towns was skeptical of the rabbi, and wanted to see for himself.
The man came to the town late Thursday night and determined to follow the rabbi to see what was really going on. In Friday's predawn hours, the rabbi woke up early and clothed himself in a peasant's garb. He then went deep into the woods and spent the next hour cutting down a tree and splitting it into firewood.
The rabbi then picked up as much firewood as he could carry and he brought it deeper into the forest until he arrived at a small cottage at the far edge of the woods. The house was inhabited by a widow and her three young children. The rabbi brought enough firewood for a week's worth of fires before going back to the village. The man was stunned and determined to become a disciple of the rabbi. And now, when the other disciples talk about the rabbi's weekly trip to heaven, the man agrees with joy.
Service is a remarkable and influential endeavor. It affects people in miraculous and dramatic ways. Conversely, the lack of the evidence of service can be devastating and disenfranchising. How do you think the bucolic detective above would have responded if instead of discovering that the rabbi spent his "secret" Friday mornings serving a neighbor in need, but simply stayed in bed because he had a weekly ritual of getting drunk on Thursday nights? He would have been appalled at the incongruity between what was professed and what actually occurred.
We, as Christians, should strive to be better servers who seek out opportunities to serve and seize them with eagerness and joy. Service that comes from a sincere heart is the of a life that is focused on the Lord. Let us then live out our faith in service!
The rabbi's disciples would tell everyone that the rabbi spent the early hours of Friday morning communing with God in heaven. In fact, the story of the rabbi's fantastical Friday morning forays had spread to the surrounding towns and villages. A man who lived in one of those neighboring towns was skeptical of the rabbi, and wanted to see for himself.
The man came to the town late Thursday night and determined to follow the rabbi to see what was really going on. In Friday's predawn hours, the rabbi woke up early and clothed himself in a peasant's garb. He then went deep into the woods and spent the next hour cutting down a tree and splitting it into firewood.
The rabbi then picked up as much firewood as he could carry and he brought it deeper into the forest until he arrived at a small cottage at the far edge of the woods. The house was inhabited by a widow and her three young children. The rabbi brought enough firewood for a week's worth of fires before going back to the village. The man was stunned and determined to become a disciple of the rabbi. And now, when the other disciples talk about the rabbi's weekly trip to heaven, the man agrees with joy.
Service is a remarkable and influential endeavor. It affects people in miraculous and dramatic ways. Conversely, the lack of the evidence of service can be devastating and disenfranchising. How do you think the bucolic detective above would have responded if instead of discovering that the rabbi spent his "secret" Friday mornings serving a neighbor in need, but simply stayed in bed because he had a weekly ritual of getting drunk on Thursday nights? He would have been appalled at the incongruity between what was professed and what actually occurred.
We, as Christians, should strive to be better servers who seek out opportunities to serve and seize them with eagerness and joy. Service that comes from a sincere heart is the of a life that is focused on the Lord. Let us then live out our faith in service!
Monday, February 13, 2012
Comprehensive Humility
To be exalted and favored by the Lord would be a wonderful status to claim. However, the requirements for such a divine determination are steep. Fortunately, there is one basic requisite that needs to be met in order to be exalted by the Lord of all creation: humility. Humility is the essential posture both in how we come before the Lord and how we relate to other people.
Jesus clearly indicates that those who wish to be affirmed and exalted by the Lord need to take on the position of the lowliest and most humble among us (Matt. 23:11-12). This is a matter of attitude. An attitude of humility means that we strive to eschew our self-worth and pride in order to live out lives of service and compassion. Reality points out that when we take on an attitude of humility, we will be so much more positioned to care for those who we might normally consider beneath us.
Think of Jesus. Although He was in very nature God, took on the lowliest of forms so as to serve the Lord and all of mankind unto death (Phil. 2:5-7). This is the mind and attitude that we should make our own. Christ is our example, humbling Himself so severely that He suffered a sinner's death, hanging naked from a cross along the roadside of Jerusalem: humility.
Humility is not an easy task because it is meant to be a comprehensive worldview by which we live the whole of our lives. This means that in every circumstance and every situation we may encounter, we will go into it with a servant's attitude and a humble heart to love and care as Christ did and does for us. This is an all-encompassing identity. Let us then strive take on the heart of a humble servant, looking to Christ who modeled love categorically in all humility. In this way, we will truly be able to live out the love that God has called us to and live the way Christ asks us to live.
Jesus clearly indicates that those who wish to be affirmed and exalted by the Lord need to take on the position of the lowliest and most humble among us (Matt. 23:11-12). This is a matter of attitude. An attitude of humility means that we strive to eschew our self-worth and pride in order to live out lives of service and compassion. Reality points out that when we take on an attitude of humility, we will be so much more positioned to care for those who we might normally consider beneath us.
Think of Jesus. Although He was in very nature God, took on the lowliest of forms so as to serve the Lord and all of mankind unto death (Phil. 2:5-7). This is the mind and attitude that we should make our own. Christ is our example, humbling Himself so severely that He suffered a sinner's death, hanging naked from a cross along the roadside of Jerusalem: humility.
Humility is not an easy task because it is meant to be a comprehensive worldview by which we live the whole of our lives. This means that in every circumstance and every situation we may encounter, we will go into it with a servant's attitude and a humble heart to love and care as Christ did and does for us. This is an all-encompassing identity. Let us then strive take on the heart of a humble servant, looking to Christ who modeled love categorically in all humility. In this way, we will truly be able to live out the love that God has called us to and live the way Christ asks us to live.
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