January 20th

January 20th

Leaving a legacy of love is accompanied by a legacy of service. You really can’t have one without the other. Jesus commanded it and so many verses support that. First, to serve we need an attitude adjustment. We can’t think that we are debasing our lowering ourselves to do some menial task, because that is pride. So we have to get over thinking that some things are beneath us.

Matthew 20:26-28 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We also need to get over the fact that we are somehow making some huge sacrifice. Come on, is it really that huge? I mean when we compare it to Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, it really isn’t even comparable right? So even when it is a sacrifice, is it really? Are we just giving up some pleasure or something we feel we have a right to call our own? I am not minimizing serving but I want to get our minds in the right place first so that we don’t somehow feel like we are owed recognition or something. When we get down to it, we are not our own.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

We owe Jesus our lives and we are called to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus.

Luke 9:23-24 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

Rather than seeing service as optional, we need to realize that it is expected. -By Jesus. So if we don’t like hearing that, we need to take that up with Him. 

It does not get us into heaven, but it is the evidence of our faith. It is what Jesus has called us to. We were called out of our comfort zone into a life of service. Once we are saved by grace through faith we can no longer ignore the needs of others. Now of course we must use wisdom so that we don’t enable or interfere with God’s plan in that person’s life. However, there are so many opportunities for service around us that we won’t have to look far to find the correct places and people to genuinely serve. Pray and let the Holy Spirit guide you. If you ask Him to awaken your eyes and heart to serve, you will start seeing needs all around you. Often the need is simple. It doesn’t have to be monetary, it may be a ride, or a meal, a blanket, a listening ear, encouragement, reaching out to a lonely or elderly neighbor, or almost anything. It may be serving here at church, or the foodbank, or your neighborhood. There are many ways to serve that don’t involve special skills so don’t let that be an excuse. The fact is that we have been given much so we should freely give to others.

James 2:14-18 14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

Ephesians 6:7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,

John 12:25-26 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Jesus, thank you for serving. Help me to be willing to serve. Help me to abandon selfishness for service. Show me the ways and the people that I can serve in your name. Help me to be a servant the way you were. Help me be willing to be uncomfortable at times in order to accomplish your work here. Thank you for your love and help me to shine that love to others with wisdom and discernment.