Am I serving, or looking to be served?

Am I serving,  or looking to be served? Am I asking to receive without giving praise and honor and tithe and offering and service unto others and worship to the Lord?

Matthew 20:25-28 ESV
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,  and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,  even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

How many times do I make my own life and my own desires the most important thing in my life? Isn’t God supposed to be first? Isn’t He supposed to be even above my desires? Isn’t He supposed to be above all other idols in our lives?

So how many of us that say we are Christians are faithful? How many of us put Him first in our lives each day, instead of listening to someone speak about Him one day a week? How many are receiving the Word of God and meditating on it daily? How many are tithing or first fruits diligently and faithfully? How many are spending dedicated, private time in prayer each day seeking His face,  His very presence?

You might say, but that is for the monks, not for us with a profession. Our you might say,  but that is for the clergy,  we are only the layity. No, do not let those religious leaders who would put themselves in authority over you fool you. We each have the full inheritance of being a son or daughter of Christ,  we are each part of a royal priesthood under Christ.

It is us who chooses how much Christ we will have in our life each day. True, being dedicated to putting God first in our lives is for some and not for some,  but can you say that both those are faithful,  believing Christians?

If a tree is not bearing fruit, is it alive at all? Or was it just confused, telling itself that it is a tree,  when it is nothing but a weed that produces no fruit,  but shucks the life and nutrients out of the ground all for itself,  never sharing with others?

You see, there are parts of our lives where we are like weeds. But God wants to change us so that we are trees,  bearing the fruits of praise and worship and love and faithful service to Him and to our fellow man.

Each of us have areas where we can realize growth and change. And growth and change is not always easy, but we are not called to a life as kings and authorities over men, but we are called to be servants,  bearing the burdens of others,  and faithfully serving the Lord.

The question becomes,  Do you want to grow? Or are you satisfied in the complacency of your quiet and fruitless death?

HOPE
If you lay your hands on this Hope of Jesus Christ who saves you and lifts you out of the pit of darkness and gives you a new life –

Some might call you foolish for being sold out to a God that you cannot see or prove, but we walk by faith not by sight.

Others might call you radical and attention seeking for sharing your faith so boldly and publicly and openly instead of keeping to the “established methods” of hiding away or religion one day a week and denying it by not living up to its standards and precepts in our daily lives and moment to moment decisions.

Some might call you legalistic for trying to follow and honor God with your changed life of repentance and faithfulness and discipleship,  instead of using freedom as an excuse to remain in sin.

Or worse,  some may not talk about you at all,  because they do not see a witness or a testimony for Christ in you at all. They may just see “a pretty nice guy/gal” that they work with our go to school with or see at their church. Are we content with being the ones that get the glory and honor and praise from others for the “good person” that people see us to be? Or do we want God to get the praise?

FAITH
Have we forgotten the excitement of our salvation? Have we fallen into religious practice? Or fallen into complacency?

Let our spirits be renewed with a faithful focus on God as the center of our lives, with a clear and present and open and public declaration of our faith in our lives each day – not just once at an altar in front of a bunch of religious people one time!

Let’s be faithful with our living out this life of Christ each day and moment, spending time in the Word of God,  spending time in prayer seeking guidance and wisdom, giving our tithes and offerings faithfully, giving our time in service unto others,  and sharing our testimony and our praise and our worship not behind closed doors,  but publicly and transparently among those who so dearly need us to be the salt and the light in this world of darkness.

LOVE
And you might say,  but that is hard.

Yes, but it is nothing compared to Christ’s death on the cross for you.

We are EACH called to live a life of discipleship unto others if we are a Christ follower.

We EACH have gifts and purposes in our lives to be used for His honor and glory.

We EACH are supposed to love and serve others if He is alive in us – because He loves.

Be alive with His Love today,  friends.

Be the living body of Christ that this world needs so badly – don’t just be a dead body sitting on a pew on Sundays.

Awake,  arise – for the Kingdom of God is at hand.