Oswald
Chambers – “Paul’s idea of service was to pour his life out to the last drop
for others. And whether he received praise or blame made no difference. As long
as there was one human being who did not know Jesus, Paul felt a debt of
service to that person until he did come to know Him. But the chief motivation
behind Paul’s service was not love for others but love for his Lord. If our
devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and
broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of
ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no
amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another.”
One of the things that has troubled me in our life of service to others has been when I encounter ungrateful people. My flesh wants to rise up. I know that what I am thinking and what I am feeling is in no way spiritual. The question is “How I should respond to them?” Although my natural response is constrained – not acted upon – it causes me to examine my motivation for what I do. Rarely has my frustration toward ungrateful people been because I thought they did not appreciate God. No, it was because I thought they did not appreciate me. Do you see the problem? 1 John 4:19 says “We love because he first loved us.” Matthew 22:37-39 suggests that when we love God first, our love for others demonstrated in our service will be a reflection of our total devotion to God. Loving others, and the service associated with it, is an expression of our love for God. Think about this. When you are confronted by ingratitude, since what we do is for God and not for them, understand that they are really being ungrateful toward God. The offense is toward Him not you. But I hasten to add, that if what you do is so people will praise you and not God – you have committed the greater offense – robbing God of His glory.
Luke 17:14-19 “When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
That is a gratitude rate of 10%. Do you think Jesus asked himself "Why did I heal those others guys, they did not appreciate it!" Would you be satisfied with that or would you decide it just wasn’t worth the trouble? Those people were not worth your effort and “sacrifice”. If you think that way, your focus is on you and not one the One who sent you. Don’t you suppose that God already knows what will happen? And He sent you anyway. We must not look at those He has sent us to serve, but at the One who did the sending. Read Romans 12:1,2. CHARLEY
One of the things that has troubled me in our life of service to others has been when I encounter ungrateful people. My flesh wants to rise up. I know that what I am thinking and what I am feeling is in no way spiritual. The question is “How I should respond to them?” Although my natural response is constrained – not acted upon – it causes me to examine my motivation for what I do. Rarely has my frustration toward ungrateful people been because I thought they did not appreciate God. No, it was because I thought they did not appreciate me. Do you see the problem? 1 John 4:19 says “We love because he first loved us.” Matthew 22:37-39 suggests that when we love God first, our love for others demonstrated in our service will be a reflection of our total devotion to God. Loving others, and the service associated with it, is an expression of our love for God. Think about this. When you are confronted by ingratitude, since what we do is for God and not for them, understand that they are really being ungrateful toward God. The offense is toward Him not you. But I hasten to add, that if what you do is so people will praise you and not God – you have committed the greater offense – robbing God of His glory.
Luke 17:14-19 “When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
That is a gratitude rate of 10%. Do you think Jesus asked himself "Why did I heal those others guys, they did not appreciate it!" Would you be satisfied with that or would you decide it just wasn’t worth the trouble? Those people were not worth your effort and “sacrifice”. If you think that way, your focus is on you and not one the One who sent you. Don’t you suppose that God already knows what will happen? And He sent you anyway. We must not look at those He has sent us to serve, but at the One who did the sending. Read Romans 12:1,2. CHARLEY
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