“What great service!” You may applaud a restaurant whose waiters seem to know just what you need before you ask and yet remain unseen while attending your needs.
Can we serve others so well in our everyday lives?
God gives us opportunities to do so in the places we live and work. We may serve our family, our fellow believers, our classmates, our community members, or even those around the world through ministries we support. “Service with a smile” should ultimately be “service with love” even if we labored in the effort. In fact, Paul bluntly writes in 1 Corinthians 13:3 that if we give all we have to the poor or die in martyrdom but do not do so in love, it has been done in vain.
Loving others is a demonstration of our service to God. Jesus said that when we serve other believers we serve him (Matthew 25:34-40). He also said that when we love our enemies we are extending God’s mercy and that is pleasing to God (Luke 6:27-36). When we serve with an attitude of thankfulness, we may also notice an increase in our compassion, leading us to pray for those we serve. God tends to grant us more of his perspective as we take our focus off of ourselves.
Serving others can be just an action, but it really is comprised of action, motivation, and emotion – what we do, why we do it, and how we do it. Being that we are servants of God, each of these components should be pleasing to him. He wants us to love others and serve him wholeheartedly, with a pure heart.
Oh, this is easier said than done, isn’t it? Sometimes serving can be inconvenient and sometimes serving can be for people that are hard to love… And there we go thinking of ourselves again!
And once again, Jesus comes to our rescue! He gives us his example and he provides us with his Holy Spirit to help us have his mindset. Jesus is our role model for serving others. The King of kings and Lord of lords listened, calmed, healed, taught, provided, cleansed…. In obedience to his Father with an attitude of love, he served those around him.
Jesus said that he came to serve, not to be served, and so we must serve others, as well (Mark 10:42-45). The more we put into practice thinking of others before ourselves, the more natural it becomes. Have you noticed that when you do kind things for someone you end up feeling good, too? Our brain releases dopamine when we do kind things for others, sending through us a message of feeling good. Our gracious creator even wired us to take pleasure in serving others!
Let’s remember that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).
This week, who will you serve in love as a way to serve Jesus?
Consider using a Heart Training devotional to nurture a mindset of loving God and loving others.