This past month God blessed me with the opportunity to go to Brazil to serve with my IMPACT 360 classmates. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing what God showed me through my time in Brazil, I hope you enjoy and and I pray that we, the body of Christ, will begin to take His Word seriously.
Serving
So during the past month I was given multiple opportunities
to serve, and while I may not have taken every opportunity to serve, which is
selfish and prideful, God still decided to teach me what true servant hood looks
like. Philippians 2:3 states "Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than
yourselves." So often when serving I find myself wanting recognition or I
end up trying to do the least amount I can for it still to be considered
serving. My goal is no longer what can I do to serve, but what can I do to get
out of serving. This is half-hearted serving. This past week I had the opportunity to serve,
and I took it, but in the middle of it, I wanted to stop and found myself questioning why this person deserve my service. I was sinning, and I tried to justify myself for
doing it half-hearted. I wanted to still be seen as a servant but I didn't have
a servant's heart. My goal was fleshly, I was serving out of selfish ambition
and vain conceit, I honored my time and my flesh above my brother's and
sister's needs. Galatians 5:13 shows how we should be serving one another;
"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your
freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." When serving and you began to focus on yourself rather than those you are serving, you are sinning. I had never really realized this truth and I have never been convicted of it until my mission trip to Brazil, but it became more apparent to me when I returned home to
the USA. We are called in Colossians 3:23 that in "Whatever [we] do, work
at it with all [of our] heart, as working for the Lord, not for human
masters." When we take our mind off of serving and place it on what can
receive through our serving, we are not serving with our whole heart. When
serving even though initially you may have the right heart, but your heart
changes into one of selfishness and how you can cut corners, you are not
serving whole-heartedly, and you are sinning. I sin when my serving becomes an
obligation and it is not out of love, but out of duty. So what should we do
when we find ourselves serving and the serving starts to become selfish and prideful? I
believe that we should continue to serve, because your flesh doesn't want you
to continue to serve, but in Matthew 16:24, Christ calls us to "deny [our]selves
and take up [our] cross and follow [Him]." We have to deny ourselves in
order to be Christ's disciple, that's some heavy stuff. We have to proactively
combat our pride and selfishness, and deny our desire to serve half-heartedly.
If you recognize yourself not truly serving in love and humility like we are
called to do, I would cry out to God for humility, but then combat your pride
by serving with everything. Deny yourself and instead of serving for the
required amount, go over your service hours and shows Christ's love. Don't just
stop at folding the laundry like your mom asked you to do, but do the dishes as
well, go and get the groceries for the week. The more you combat your false
serving, the more enjoyable serving becomes, and you will find yourself with a
desire to serve rather than a desire to do the minimum. God wants us to serve
out of love, and He will not fail to give you a servant's heart if you seek Him
out and cry out for humility.
His unworthy servant,
Stephen Hargis
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