Do you serve others?

I have been blessed to help a few people out and I always am grateful for that blessing. I believe God has used these circumstances to further mold and shape me.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer the molding and shaping that occurs through service to others over the hard life lessons when I’m too stubborn to pay attention to the gentle lessons God is trying to teach me 😊

Jesus – God or Servant?

Philippians 2 tells us he is both God and servant.

though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Philippians 2:6-7

Jesus served the people he was surrounded by. In the gospels (Mark 6 and Mark 8) it is recorded that Jesus fed first 5,000 and then 4,000. They came to him. They followed him for 3 days and Jesus did not want to send them home hungry. The disciples told Jesus to send them away so they could get food. Jesus said no, we’ll feed them (I’m paraphrasing here).

John 13 finds Jesus serving his disciples by washing their feet. I don’t know about you, but to me this is a BIG deal. 12 men, wearing sandals, travel mode of walking, on dusty roads. I’m not looking to get anywhere near those stinky smelly feet! But our Lord and Savior did. He could have taken the role of an earthly king with all of its perks, but that’s not why he was here. What a great example of servanthood he is for us!

For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

Luke 22:27

A Servant Heart

I have been surrounded by servant-hearted people my entire life. My mom, grandparents, and aunts have all been wonderful examples to me. My husband is also very much a servant. He will do anything for anyone. I am grateful for these people in my life who show me how to be more Christlike.

When you serve others, are you serving them with love and joy? Or are you complaining the whole time about how hard or stressful it is? Or how stinky their feet are? I don’t think I have to point out which attitude is the right attitude 😊 I know I have been guilty of serving in misery rather than in love. For me, this is something that takes a lot of self-talk. I have to remind myself that I want to serve the people and that I want to serve God. Serving others is something we have tried to model for our children and involve our children in.

Involve your children

How can you involve your kids?

• Take them with you to serve
• Let them know why you are serving.
  Why does this person need help?
  Were they just in the hospital?
  Do they have a new baby?
  Was there a death in their family?
  This can open up so many important conversations with our children!
• Have them help with a menu and preparing food
• Have them help shop, explain why you are buying some things. Equip your children with the knowledge so that they can duplicate the process on their own as adults.
• Don’t forget to show them the joy and love going into the process! If we aren’t doing it because of love then why are we?

Over the last week, we were blessed to be able to help in 3 different ways. All of my kids helped to make food and load it in the van and we kept talking about the precious new baby that we were taking food to (ok we were going to see the new precious baby and take food to her momma and daddy and big brother).

In a 3rd way we helped, my 7-year-old learned some things I may have not been quite ready for him to learn about the harsh realities of life. However, I know that it will serve him as he learns to have empathy for others.

There are people hurting all around us, all we have to do is be open enough to see those people and pray to God for the wisdom, strength, means, and courage to help others. A man we were blessed to help, shared with us that his late wife always said, “I may help someone who doesn’t need it, but that’s between them and God. If I quit helping people because of that person who didn’t need it, then what about the 4 or 5 who did need it and I turned them away?”

We have been blessed by the service of others!

I have had 4 babies, and with each baby, we were blessed by waves of food from family and friends.

Last June I was in the hospital for a couple of days and we were surrounded by the love of church family. They picked up our children and fed them, and brought us food after I was out of the hospital. Even making special food for me because I couldn’t swallow. 

As important as it is to model servanthood to our children, it is also important to model gratitude. We were grateful to the people who brought us food and now we get to pass that on to others. 

We have all been given spiritual gifts. Some are stronger in servanthood than others. Some are more evangelical than others, etc. If you don’t know your spiritual gifts I would recommend taking this test and reading Spiritual Giftedness. This book helps you understand how to develop and use them.