Service

Most people wish to serve God -- but in an advisory capacity only.

Quoted in Sunday Express, London.

Franklin Roosevelt's closest adviser during much of his presidency was a man named Harry Hopkins. During World War II, when his influence with Roosevelt was at its peak, Hopkins held no official Cabinet position. Moreover, Hopkins' closeness to Roosevelt caused many to regard him as a shadowy, sinister figure. As a result he was a major political liability to the President. A political foe once asked Roosevelt, "Why do you keep Hopkins so close to you? You surely realize that people distrust him and resent his influence." Roosevelt replied, "Someday you may well be sitting here where I am now as President of the United States. And when you are, you'll be looking at that door over there and knowing that practically everybody who walks through it wants something out of you. You'll learn what a lonely job this is, and you'll discover the need for somebody like Harry Hopkins, who asks for nothing except to serve you." Winston Churchill rated Hopkins as one of the half-dozen most powerful men in the world in the early 1940s. And the sole source of Hopkins's power was his willingness to serve. [Discipleship Journal, Issue 39 (1987), p. 5.]

Now let's examine two types of service and try to determine which one best describes us when it comes to serving God and our fellow man.

Self-righteous service comes through human effort. True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside.Self-righteous service is impressed with the "big deal." True service finds it almost impossible to distinguish the small from the large service.Self-righteous service requires external rewards. True service rests contented in hiddenness.Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results. True service is free of the need to calculate results.Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve. True service is indiscriminate in its ministry.Self-righteous service is affected by moods and whims. True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need.Self-righteous service is temporary. True service is a life-style.Self-righteous service is without sensitivity. It insists on meeting the need even when to do so would be destructive. True service can withhold the service as freely as perform it. Self-righteous service fractures community. True service, on the other hand, builds community. [Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, "The Discipline of Service."] 

 

God's word reminds us that...

“You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24)

“And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:27,28)

...but through love serve one another. (Gal. 5:13)

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Col. 3:24)

 

One of the best ways we can serve God and our fellow man is to become very acquainted with God's word and be willing to share it when the opportunities present themselves.