Today as I was doing some tasks at work, I wondered: why do I have to do this? It was someone else’s job to check and do it right, but here I found myself fixing it. As I wondered, the Lord emphasized “DO IT.” As I rolled my eyes, He said “having a true heart of service is doing these tasks that most people would rather not do or would complain to do. Serving is not reserved for church. You are the right person for the job.”
This was a heart check for me! I realized that I was not serving the Lord with the right attitude at work. I was just going through the motions, doing things in auto pilot, letting my emotions dictate how I act and do my job.
Sure enough, I did the task. Then, as I reflected on the word God had spoken, this question popped up, do I really have a heart for serving others? Do I serve joyfully?
Well, today proved that whenever I don’t invite the Holy Spirit into these situations, or my day-to-day, there’s a disconnection with serving and my joy. To be honest, in this situation, I noticed that my serving is linked to my belief that if I serve or help, then I’d be taken advantage of.
But the Word says:
“But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20: 26-28
Basically, serving is a part of my life as a believer, and I shouldn’t see myself as a victim in situations where it seems I’m being taken advantage of, but as woman who wants to honor and portray the image of Him who gave His life for me everywhere I go.
This shouldn’t be done by striving. What I mean by that is that our lives should not be filled by have to’s and should not’s, but they should be a reflection of our full surrender to the Holy Spirit, so that His overflow can be seen in our serving.
By acknowledging the Holy Spirit in our daily routines, our steps are directed, and that makes our serving align with His heart! And in the end, it changes ours too.
Am I truly serving God or trying to serve my own agenda?
Serving God goes beyond volunteering at church; it goes beyond doing what we think is good or what we want to do to serve the Lord.
And I’m sure you know that; it seems like an easy concept to grasp and apply, but I realized that when it’s most difficult to serve, that’s when I should die to self and do it.
It’s not a matter of serving when it’s convenient for me.
It should always be about Jesus. If we cannot find Him anywhere in our serving, then we should stop and think if it’s genuine serving or self-serving.
Am I doing this good deed because I want to be approved by others and liked? Or am I doing it despite not getting anything in return?
I remember this other time when I was going to church for dance practice, and I saw this homeless lady at a traffic light. I felt the nudge from the Holy Spirit to do something, but I didn’t. I excused myself with the fact that I was running late to practice and since I’m a leader, I didn’t want to be late. So, I let the spirit of religiosity take the lead instead of the Holy Spirit. As I was driving away, I heard the Holy Spirit remind me “Whatever I ask you to do takes precedence over anything else that you think you’re doing for Me.” I make emphasis in “you think” because that’s key.
Sometimes we may think that what we’re doing serves the Lord; that we’re so in tune with His Spirit because we’re serving Him at church, or even volunteering at homeless shelters, or helping in food drives (there’s nothing wrong with this, btw), but rarely take a moment to listen to what He is actually asking of us.
Sometimes we fill our lives with all these “spiritual” activities thinking that this is the best way to live a holy and dedicated life to Jesus, but we’re so busy that we lose sight of what’s important, listening to God.
Is being busy the same as serving?
Serving isn’t being busy, it’s a lifestyle that includes giving and stillness in Him.
For instance, the story of Mary and Martha contrast busyness and stillness in serving. If you remember the story in Luke 10:38-42, Mary and Martha were sisters who had received Jesus in their home.
Martha was very busy with serving, making sure everything was perfect and ready for Jesus, but she didn’t realize that in her busyness, she had missed the most important assignment, which was listening to the Lord! Meanwhile, her sister had left everything to sit at the feet of Jesus, and Martha was not happy about that!
But Jesus kindly reminds Martha that the only thing that was important at the moment was not doing all these things to serve Him, but sitting at his feet in complete attention to what He was saying. And we might say, well, there’s nothing wrong in wanting to do a nice thing for the Messiah! After all, who invites someone to their home and doesn’t prepare the place beforehand?
Though this may be a valid point, there was only ONE thing that the Lord asked at that moment, it was not service, it was not everything to be perfect, but He wanted complete surrender and attention to His word and presence.
As for me, sometimes I focus my day on doing, doing, doing, that I forget about the stillness. Of course, I feel so productive after I finished the tasks, but have I met Jesus in everything that I have done?
I’ve learned that nothing can be truly done for God without Him in the mix. Whatever we do should be done as onto the Lord. Whether that is cleaning our house, picking up trash in the street that someone else threw away, our daily duties at work, serving our husbands, our relatives, our friends. There’s no godly task without God, no matter how good we think it is. Not everything good is of God, but everything of God is good!
How to serve well?
If I can take away anything from this is that to know God is to serve Him better. To make it practical, here are some pointers found in the Word of God to follow:
- Die to self. This is key to serving others; not following our fleshly passions and ambitions to take over, but giving and serving out of a pure heart to help (Philippians 2:3-8)
- Be humble. This is related to the point above because we cannot be humble without dying to self. But as Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve others, we, as His disciples, should do the same. Like the time Jesus washed His disciples’ feet; He didn’t think it twice, He served them with love and without a personal agenda. Jesus got on His knees to do the task. Just let that sink in. (John 13:12-15)
- Do it as onto God. As I said before, everything we do should be done as onto Him. What does this mean? To honor God in everything we do, to do His will, to serve Him first and foremost. (Colossians 3:23-24).
- Use your God-given gifts. This reminds me of what the Holy Spirit told me earlier: “You’re the person for the job.” We all have been given gifts for the kingdom, to represent Our Heavenly Father here on earth and walk the purpose He has called us to live. So, our gifts shouldn’t be boxed and forgotten. People out there need what we have to offer! And most importantly, when we use our gifts, they will see our good works and glorify God. (1 Peter 4:10-11; Matthew 5:16)
