One
of the greatest gifts I can give anyone is serving them. Serving brings the one giving satisfaction
and gives those being served help and encouragement. All around there is courage given and
entrusted in the lives of the people who see or receive what is going on.
As Christians we ought to be determined
to serve. We will make a difference for
all involved when this is our choice.
The Son of Man did not come to be
served, but to serve…
Jesus also said, “Yet I am among you as
the One who serves” (Luke 22:27).
Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s— “…ourselves your bondservants
for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).
We somehow have the idea that a person called to the ministry is called to be
different and above other people. But according to Jesus Christ, he is called
to be a “doormat” for others— called to be their spiritual leader, but never
their superior. Paul said, “I know how to be abased…” (Philippians 4:12).
Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop for others.
And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long as there
was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of service to that
person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation behind Paul’s
service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our devotion is to
the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we
will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people.
But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be
able to hinder us from serving one another.
Paul’s
understanding of how Christ had dealt with him is the secret behind his
determination to serve others. “I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and
an insolent man…” (1 Timothy 1:13).
In other words, no matter how badly others may have treated Paul, they could
never have treated him with the same degree of spite and hatred with which he
had treated Jesus Christ. Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the
depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter
from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His
sake.
Make your life
count, give others value, choose today to serve the people you come in contact.
Comments