Self vs Service
If you were to take stock of what was most important to you in your life, what would it be? Truthfully. For example; my kids. my husband (or finding a husband!), finding financial security. Perhaps my one on one bestie time with God, church, letting people in on the secret of Jesus, or ensuring no major fashion faux paus when leaving the house.
If we get right down to it, we all know that the right answer has God in the equation. But, we are selfish right? Our innate desire is self preservation. One that equals a selfish bias when it comes to anything that impacts our lives in terms of the future, the present, our time, our money and our families.
So how do we find that balance of living our lives, yet living it in a way that looks to glorify God?
This is a complex question, but for the sake of this short article, I will put it in the context of serving in our church, Pittwater Uniting Church.
Stop and ask yourself these questions: where do I serve at Pittwater? Do I serve at all? Is the service I do, a sacrifice for me, or do I fit my serving into my life's timetable?
I do not claim to have all the answers in how to balance our selfish bias and our desire to serve God. I do know that I have been learning that service to God is a requirement if I truly want to live a mature Christian life.
Consider this; if you were to go to work and sit around letting everyone else do the things that needed to be done, chances are, you would find yourself unemployed. Of course, we do not get paid to be Christians, but the quality of our Christian life will be rewarded in eternal riches in Heaven. I am not saying that to be saved you need to do things to serve God. Our salvation is a grace given gift on God's behalf and nothing we ever do gets us that salvation. All I am saying is that I don't want to get to Heaven and have God say; "Welcome to my ultimate gift to you," then look me in the eyes and not be able to say; "Thank you for all you did for Me with the time I gave you on Earth." It's kind of like the quote "Service is the rent we pay for living in this world of ours" (Nathan Eldon Tanner). Who wants God asking us to pay up for back rent? (Not that He would, as His grace is just like that, but go with the principle here).
Of course, service for different people takes on many different looks. Our different stages of life determine this, as well as our health, our finances and our gifts. I just really want to challenge you (as well as myself) to really think about how much we give back to God, and specifically our church. I still find it hard to understand how we can have a waiting list for our Mothers of Preschooler's (MOPS) program due to a lack of voluntary carers, when we are part of a moderate sized church. I also see how hard a core group of people work when it comes to ministry, and how ready we are to burn them out and use them up without putting our own hands up to help them do what they do. And honestly, how many of us have seen a church fundraiser/event and thought; "I'll just see if anything else comes up first" before we really commit to supporting the ministry or event? It's times like that, that ministry leaders become disheartened at lack of numbers or excitement, despite their efforts to serve God faithfully. Will we ever really know how much discouragement we caused because of our selfish bias?
This kind of attitude is really just not good enough for God. It is an attitude of complacency and is one that is lukewarm. And we all know that verse about God spitting out the lukewarm. (Revelation 3:15- 17). I know that I have had a bit of a kick in the toosh about this attitude of serving myself and my desires for my ownfuture, which I leave behind when I die. Jesus says, "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being." (Matthew 6:19-21, The Message)
Service is just as much about our mindset, as us physically working. If our driving force in our lives is success, or God-owed happiness, then our mindset will remain self-centred.
It really comes down to this. What is the big picture? Put simply, it is to glorify God with our lives, decisions and relationships. We are to help others find God through our lives, decisions and relationships.
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33, NIV) The Message version says; "What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving."
So simple. Life just gets in the way at times. Kids need parenting, bills need to be paid, health issues crop up, the dog breaks its leg, the bathroom floods.
So here is the challenge. How much are you letting that selfish bias control your decisions when it comes to serving at Pittwater? We often choose not to serve because we feel that we don't have the time, or would rather spend that time doing the things we feel we enjoy. Perhaps we consider that life is ours to live, and that we are entitled to fill it with the things we think bring us happiness. With that thought in mind, I leave you with this quote:
I slept and dreamed that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted, and behold, service was joy.
--Rabindranath Tagore (quoted in The 8th Habit by Stephen R. Covey)
