Jesus said, “Give
to anyone who asks you, and don’t turn down anyone wanting to borrow from you.”
—
Matthew 5:42
(USC)
Saved to serve! That’s right, we
were saved into the kingdom of God in order that we might serve others to the
end of realising their own salvation.
Serving is always
about others in the same way that our spiritual growth is not from us. If we
are to serve others with genuine fervour that wells up into a fountain of joy,
it will come not from us, but from the Holy Spirit in us.
That’s evidence of
God’s work in us; that we can do these things and choose for joy.
Our spiritual growth
is just as miraculous. We can’t claim it as our own victory. But it’s a victory
nonetheless. And even better that it comes not from us. Growth is proof of God
beyond our doing.
Now, to serve is to
give.
To serve is the
willingness of surrender so another person might be blessed with what we are
blessed to give. When we give away what we have, we acknowledge the truth; it
was never ours to begin with. We passed it on as a faithful steward should – at
the right time.
The greatest
blessings of life are those found in giving to others. The more we give up our
rights to ourselves, the more God fills us with copious portions of his Spirit.
When someone would
desire to borrow from us, it becomes the very opportunity for the receipt of
blessing. We come to know it this way: passion and enthusiasm rises from within
us when we see that we can serve someone. It’s quite distinctly not about
neediness – like, we don’t need to do
this, but we want to.
We are praying that
God would give us opportunities to love people; that we might ease their burden
somehow, because we know how difficult life is.
We serve because we
are convinced of the power of serving to help, having been helped by others.
They mentored us into a way of being that we came to understand as highly
supportive, and indeed crucial in our development during a time of intense
difficulty.
***
QUESTIONS in REVIEW:
1. Where do you find it easy and
where do you find it difficult to serve? Think of environments, people, and
situations. How could God be prompting you to serve today?
2. Do you ever (or often) get that
feeling that the Holy Spirit is nudging you to serve someone or a situation?
How do you feel when you neglect his voice? What is it like having obeyed his
leading?
3. How hard is it for you to give
when you’ve been asked for a loan? What could be God’s challenge of you in
becoming more generous of spirit?
© 2015 S. J. Wickham.
Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English
(2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr. Richard Moore, a NT
Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.
No comments:
Post a Comment