Serving God and others. . .I have to admit that this has been a difficult subject for me in that I was always struggling with how to serve others when I feel that I am just trying to keep my head above water. What do I have to offer? As God has revealed more of himself to me, he has also revealed key stumbling blocks within my heart, and all of us for that matter, that need to be called under the authority of God in order to selflessly serve others. Then he can mold us into the servants that he has called us to be.
First, as humans, we have this innate desire to be “better” than one another. We claw at and climb over one another just to be one rung higher on the ladder than others around us. It is as if we are justified by being able to look down from our rung at all of those who are looking up at us – struggling to be where we are. It is impossible to serve each other when we are in constant competition with one another. This may seem like such a harsh view of people, but a simple look at the nature of our culture proves this to be true. It is blaringly apparent in our careers, families, athletics, friendships, and romantic relationships. We all have this need to prove ourselves as “lovable” by setting standards that are "below" us. Matthew 18:1 “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” After all, if the disciples struggled with one-up-manship, then how could we not also?
Through this self-created system of justification, we wage war against those who we feel are less moral than those standards. Of course we see it as waging war on sin itself, but is it not the people that we are trying to change? Donald Miller explains that as we try so hard to wage our war against sin, we overshadow the love and forgiveness that Jesus came to preach - the very love that will save them. We seek out immorality when we ourselves are immoral beings and therefore incapable to judge what is right and wrong to begin with. Romans 8:33-34 “It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died – more than that – was raised to life, is at the right hand of God, and is interceding on our behalf.” Sin can no more determine morality than we can. Immoral beings cannot determine morality for other immoral beings.
Finally, God showed me that the only way to clear my heart of these things is to begin again with the greatest of his commandments. Matthew 22:37-40 “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” We tend to read this verse quickly missing the incredible calling we have here in so few words. We are commanded to take captive every thought, submit our very soul, and focus every longing of our hearts on Him. He is in every sense to be our purpose and our reason. As John Pieper writes, how high a calling is it to be told that we must love others in a way that is “like the first”. I can’t imagine loving others in a way that is how I love God. They have faults, they let me down, they don’t handle situations in the way that I would have them, they bring pain into my life and I am asked to love them in a way similar to the passion that I put into God? Yes. . .and once we are able to free our hearts of our condemnation and judgment we can truly serve others, but not until then.
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3 comments:
Thank you for posting this... I was hoping to read it again. So much more goes into serving love than most people realize. We have minimized "servanthood" to doing things for others out of a sense of duty or when we really desire something in return for ourselves.
You are right when you say that the focus, before servanthood is real, needs to be inward- so that we are serving one another as a reflection of our love for God. I think a great lack of serving love comes from a pride-based view of self. We expect people to be something they are not, but we think we have arrived and therefore look down on those below us- instead of serving them as Christ did.
My, we have much to learn, don't we? Some of these attitudes are so ingrained in us that it is only the power of God that allows us to be like Him. Praise Him for HIs mercy! May I learn to show it to others by serving them...
Love you, Katie!
Always a good reminder. We don't need to fix people, we need to love them, the fix happens afterwards and at God's leisure. We should always look to our own sin, and simply seek to build good relationships with others. Out of good relationship the iron sharpening iron happens naturally.
Truly it is a high calling to love God and to love like God.
The other thing that comes to mind is that loving others is the prime way we show our love for God. We worship Him by loving others. How can we say we love Him if we neglect or reject that which He loves and which He asks us to do?
I was just reading Hebrews 13, somewhere towards the end it says, "Let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name..." and then, "...and let us not stop doing good to one another and sharing with one another... for with such sacrifices God is pleased." (Galant's Off-The-Cuff Version)
It occurs to me that while we often think of our worship and praise being mainly singing, praying, and spending time with Him, I think the most potent love we have is what we do for and with others. I mean, 'sacrifice of praise' what does that mean? I've been trying to look it up, singing doesn't really involve sacrifice for me. Spending time with God and praying, maybe a bit, but sharing and doing good often does involve sacrifice. Maybe that's what the writer is talking about...?
Anyway, thanks again for the reminder.
God bless.
Wow, what a fresh perspective...love others LIKE you love God. Hmm -- convicting too. We do not love God NEARLY as we should, and yet we're supposed to love Him AND others that much! Sheesh! And the only reason we CAN love is because He first loved us!
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