Love and Service

  Sometimes life can be so daunting, that it can become easy to slip into a place of utter complacency making it difficult  to serve God wholly and richly. If I’m not mistaken, as Christian women we are called to bless God in all that we do. But as for me, this is much easier said than done. I for one, am quite capable of over filling my time with mindless and often heartless tasks in my “service” to the

Lord which sometimes seem to border on the mundane.   Instead of making time for the more intimate disciplines of the Spirit, like prayer and meditation, I over commit. I exert too much effort toward matters of service which can exhaust and deplete; rather than resting in the Spirit, in order to be filled with the overflow that is so inexhaustibly promised. Instead of committing myself with intentionality to that place of rest, I allow myself to pulled into a tide of effort.  And therein lies the rub I suppose, it is contained in the effort I put forth in my service to the Lord. The last time I checked, the word “effort” is not typically described as what the Lord requires of us in our expression of true Christian service.

  Perhaps the essence of true Christian service is better encapsulated in the word “expression” rather than the word “effort”. Expression is the process of making known one’s feelings or thoughts through word or deed. Therefore, if my relationship with Christ is right, then I suppose my love for him will be made manifest through my expression of service as an overflow of love and thanksgiving.   The apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians refers to his constituency as “ a letter from Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” What better expression of intimacy than that of a love letter written on our hearts by the Savior of the universe! And we, being unworthy recipients of His Holy Spirit get the privilege of blessing Him back in humble servitude. So, the next time you feel the pull of your flesh fighting against a prior commitment to ministry remember it’s not about the quality of effort you put forth but the quality of your heart’s expression.  

    When your heart’s desire is in sync with the desire of the One you love, there is no room for apathy of mind or spirit especially when that spirit has been made one with His. So, the next time you find yourself struggling with a desire to do more effective works of evangelism and service, remember where the answer lies; in that still small place of the Spirit which can so often be overlooked in this day of noise and action. Bless God; therefore,with the only riches He Himself deems worthy of his acceptance. And that is through the gift of intimacy that can only begotten in time well spent with Him.