Serving God

I’m teaching a lesson from 9 Attitudes that keep a Christian Going and Growing by Stuart Briscol and I wanted to share a few things he talks about over the next couple posts.

In Colossians 3:23-24 Paul says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” This doesn’t mean we have to get a job in the church. Whatever someone’s occupation is, and that includes housewife and mother, so long as it is compatible with God’s holiness, there’s an opportunity, by the person’s demeanor, by their commitment, faithfulness, energy and the way they go about their task, to serve God in any situation.

Starting with getting up and thanking God for a new day. And at the end of the day, saying, “Lord, this is what I did today. I trust I brought you honor: I served You in my situation today.”

We not only serve God, we serve the Christian community. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:13 to serve one another in love. What would it be like to belong to a church where every member said, “Here I am, Lord, ready to serve You by serving my brothers and sisters in the community”?

When people stop sitting in the pew saying, “They’re not meeting my needs.” And start saying, “Whose needs can I meet?” Then the servant spirit flourishes in a congregation and you’ve got a church on fire!

Each of us needs to identify the way we are serving God. We need to identify the ways we are serving the church. This is our calling.

Many of us feels that society in general and the government in particular owe us something, when in actuality we owe our loving service to the world in the name of Christ. That’s the Christian attitude. It’s a free choice to make, but a necessary one to live out the Gospel. It’s a privilege to belong to God and also a responsibility to be called a Christian.