Timberlake Tales: Missional Focus: {Day 25} Serving Others

Monday, October 31, 2011

Missional Focus: {Day 25} Serving Others

Being missional is living a life that involves intentionally serving others to win more to Christ through living out and sharing the Gospel.

I always thought that serving others needed to be big and a part of something more organised. I perhaps didn't think I really had anything to offer others by serving them.

The older I get the more I realise that serving others takes on all forms and isn't so much what you do, but a position of your heart.

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

Serving others involves seeing people through Jesus eyes, something that I admittedly am not that great at. I'm praying I get better at it, and praying that He will give me a heart like His.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was He replied like this:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” (Luke 10:27)

Loving your neighbor as yourself goes much further than the idea of "treating others the way you would like to be treated." It is about treating people with love, respect, kindness and generosity, even when you know they can't or won't give you any in return.

Jesus knew what it was like to no be thanked or appreciated. In Luke 17:11-19 we are told of Him healing ten men with leprosy. Upon their healing only one man returned to Jesus to thank Him. If Christ wasn't thanked by everyone He gave love to we should expect that there are going to be times when our serving others goes unappreciated too.

But we don't serve because we want to be showered in praise and admiration. We serve because all are created in God's image and He calls us to love others, even the most unlovable.

Perhaps spend a little time thinking about how you might be able to serve others, even if it just seems like it is a small thing. Ask God to give you a heart for people, and eyes to see them as He does. I promise, once you start to pray that kind of prayer, you will view people differently! He will start to do a work in your heart!