How Christians Can Take Serving God to the Next Level
Ask this question of yourself: What should serving look like for me? Your service and serving is an offering before the Lord.Mother Teresa is an icon for her service to humanity. She is quoted in the book, Make Life Giving Relationships A Top Priority:
“If you can’t do great things, Mother Teresa used to say, do little things with great love. If you can’t do them with great love, do them with a little love and if you can’t do them with a little love, do them anyway. Love grows when people serve. “
Not everything is serving.
We have to distinguish between doing stuff for people and offering service. The biblical story of Mary and Martha shows us that not all things are service. Some would say these things are the same, but we have to question our way of doing things if we are to become more effective and efficient at operating from our calling. In Luke 10:38-40 NIV, Jesus visits the home of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy “serving” as a good hostess would in the presence of the most important guest, and her sister Mary chooses to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear his teaching. Upset that she is doing everything alone, Martha asks Jesus:“Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And]Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”Contrast Martha’s acts and the woman with the alabaster jar in Luke 7:36-50 NIV who washes Jesus’s feet with her hair, tears, and perfume. This woman is described as a sinner by those who knew her, but by Jesus as a woman whose great act of love is a reflection of her many sins which have been forgiven. Her service is an offering that reflects her love for a God who forgives even the greatest of sins. I don't know about you, but that's a powerful statement for us all.
That is the essence of service - An offering done with love.
Define your service. Know it. Do it with excellence. Go beyond the call of duty. Do it with love. When you are at work, choose to turn it into service. Don’t just go through the motions and routine of the day. Do it unto the Lord:“ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” ~ Colossians 3:23-24 NIV
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Add that punch to your service by being excellent. Consider the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-16 NIV), both brought an offering before the Lord, but only Abel was commended because he brought the best he had. Abel received the favor of the Lord, which made Cain burn with jealousy. Sometimes we find ourselves envying or being jealous of other people and their accomplishments especially in this age of social media but we don’t see that they bring the best they have as an offering to the Lord. They serve with excellence in their area of gifting, calling, or experience. What you do in private, the attitudes and intentions of the heart, God will reward.Whatever you do, ADD excellence + love = SERVICE