To Serve With Love-Part I

To Serve With Love
Part I

&Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slavejust as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20:26-28 (NIV)

I receive many emails of late that are sharing with me various stories and pictures of the many soldiers that have been serving overseas in foreign countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. All of these pictures and stories touch and break my heart. And yet, I understand only partially what these men and women have been enduring and persevering in while serving those in need. I wish there was some way that I could say Thank You, to each and every one of them, but I know that this not possible. Still I participate every chance I get to forward these messages, and to say thanks when the opportunity arises to do so.

I was thinking about the service that these soldiers provide, and that fact that each of them is doing it willingly, and without being told that they have to. Each one of them has voluntarily signed up to serve in one of the many branches of the military service, such as, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, including the Coast Guard, and National Guard.

What I find interesting is that if you were asking most of them, Why do you serve? They would answer, I do it for my country. And many of them would also answer, For God and Country.

Sure, they might talk about loved ones, or all the people that are over in the various places that are being protected and rescued from tyranny or oppression, but it wouldnt be there primary reason. Their serving these people in need was simply a byproduct of serving God and Country. The fact is that they couldnt serve God and Country without also being a blessing to these people in the process.

And that concept is the basis for this series of devotionals titled, To Serve With Love.

Serving others is the basis of our ministry as Christians. We can clearly see that by the scripture above. If we have an aspiration to be viewed as great in Gods eye, we must be willing to serve others.

So the first question that we should ask is, Whom do we serve?

&What does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, Deuteronomy 10:12 (NKJV)

According to this scripture, we are to serve God first and foremost. And we are to serve Him with all of our heart and soul.

When we serve God first and foremost, then others are blessed by our acts of love and obedience to Him and to His Word. We cannot help but to be great servants when we choose to seek God and make Him our first and highest priority.

I want to encourage you to earnestly seek God today. Ask Him to open your eyes to see His perfect will for your life, and those who are a part of your life. Remember that everything and everyone you serve is for God, first and foremost. Because it makes a difference in:

How you serve your spouse and family
How you serve your employer
How you serve your employees
How you serve those you meet throughout the day
How you serve the needs of the Church

STUDY QUESTION: According to Deuteronomy 10:12, what does God require of us?

PERSONAL INVENTORY: Are you willing to acknowledge and implement what God has asked of every Christian?

APPLICATION: Seek to serve God today in every way that He has allowed, and equipped you to.