"Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ’Well done.’ “ It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet." CHAMBERS
When you serve God it must be without condition. I will serve you but if it means that I have to put up with … whatever or whomever … then I will say, “That is not God.” And not do it. Having done so I will have failed in my service. God shapes us through service … the whole point is to be more like His Son, Jesus. When the man told Jesus he would follow Him but first he had to bury his father, Jesus replied .. “Let the dead bury the dead”
(Luke 9:60-62) Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." And another also said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house." But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
Jesus had left Heaven to do His Father’s will … He was going to the cross …. So why do we think that leaving our family in Alabama, for example, is asking too much of us?
Recently I was asked to do something that didn't fit exactly with my view of what I am supposed to do, and my first response in my heart was … “I didn’t come all this way to do that!” But as I prayed about it, I realized that it doesn’t matter what I do for God … if it is God, I am committed to serving Him … and it goes back to Chambers’ question .. “Am I willing to sacrifice myself for the work of another believer .. or do I want to tell God how I will serve Him?” Am I willing to be seen as “nothing” by men in the service of the Lord. I am used to being out front … in the lead … but not so here. In the book “The Practice of the Presence” the author describes the attitude of Brother Lawrence
“so likewise, in his business in the kitchen (to which he had naturally a great aversion), having accustomed himself to do everything there for the love of GOD, and with prayer, upon all occasions, for His grace to do his work well, he had found everything easy, during the fifteen years that he had been employed there.”
So we start out with a natural inclination and preference. Then God calls us to a place of His choosing and we are immediately faced with a conflict. Do I want to serve God or serve myself? It is presumptuous to think that God will only ask us to do things that we ‘like’ to do. Brother Lawrence spent 15 years in the kitchen … to which he had naturally a great aversion …. Brother Lawrence was sought out by many people because of the reflection of Jesus in his life. Even while serving in the kitchen .. but actually more because of his serving in the kitchen …
So the question we must answer is this. Are we prepared to serve God not matter what and no matter where? Or do we have preferences and priorities that trump what God wants? Our truthful answer will determine our service and the quality of our life. Like Brother Lawrence, I must pray for His grace to do my ‘work’ well.
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
Charley
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