“The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also.” Proverbs 11:25
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about being servant-hearted, serving, and what a life without doing so means. I tend to be on the extreme end of serving. More often than not, I tend to go overboard and, as we all know, balance is the key to everything in life, isn’t it? It’s amazing what one can learn as they age and experience life, right? However, I do love to serve and cannot imagine living life without doing so. If I’m honest, there have definitely been times in my life when my service hasn’t been done without grumbling or complaining either – chalk that up to “over-ness” or not doing it as unto the Lord. (I’m ever-learning, which is a good thing too.) Yet, today, I woke up with this topic on my mind again. So here we are!
I’ve always served. It’s in my DNA, part of my make up, it makes life worth living to me. I know I am at my best when I am serving and miserable when not doing so. What greater joy can we experience than knowing we’ve lifted someone up, encouraged, or helped out in some way? What’s the use of living life and not giving of yourself? I think Jesus summed up the way we should live our lives when He said, love the Lord with all your heart, and each other as yourself. (My paraphrased version) I also think that is the only way to live an abundant life in this fallen world. So, I serve.
At church. At home. At work. At Walmart. The possibilities are endless. The Bible speaks of us being salt and light in our world. What better way to do so than to lend a helping hand to someone? After all, isn’t that exactly what Jesus went about doing during His earthly ministry? He was the perfect example of a servant; one I’ll probably never live up to, but will continue to try. The thing about serving is that it doesn’t take a big act, cost a lot of money or be anything to make a big to-do over. It’s often done in secret. Behind the scenes. Maybe even anonymously. The person who will ALWAYS know you’ve served though is yourself so I encourage you (and myself) to do it often — and well.
Now, the point I really want to make is what I call the opposite of serving. You know, light is opposite of darkness. Stop is the opposite of go. I’d say the opposite of serving is criticism. We’re usually doing one or the other, aren’t we? We can walk into a room and make it better, or we can walk in and measure everything to our scale of expectation and come up criticizing. I read a book not to long ago which will forever have an effect on me and I want to share this thought with you: walk into every room looking to see how you can serve.
A serving heart cannot be a criticizing one!
When we criticize, we’re literally draining ourselves (thus the theme picture of the colander!) and becoming more empty by the moment. What we say negatively about the job or work someone else has done might may lift us up for a brief moment and give us a false sense of superiority, but it actually dings and punches holes in our own armor. Think about it! We have two choices: we can either walk into a room looking to serve, or we can grab a chair, judge and condemn. The latter equals emptiness. Literally, how we enter a room will affect us and others, so let’s walk in to serve. Anyone can put down and look down upon others and the work they have done, it doesn’t take a big person to do this menial task, but the big person will walk in and seek to serve no matter what their opinions might be. Consider Jesus, the perfect Servant.
When we walk in seeking to serve, we may walk away tired, but always full.
Serve, don’t criticize.
Can I serve right here today by encouraging us to begin walking with new purpose? Just try it for a month and see what a difference it makes in your life and the lives of others you relate to. Determine to walk into every room and situation seeking to serve. With our first step inside, let’s turn down our ingrained habit to “check it out” and instead seek to “serve it out” instead. What can we do to help those in charge? How can we assist those who are in need? Where can we make a difference? Not to show off, but to sincerely give of ourselves for the betterment of others.
Servants aren’t the center of attention, they place the attention on others.
I believe you’ll find it life-changing and never want to go back if you’ll make this shift with me. Let’s not intentionally be our worst enemy by punching holes where there should be none. We can make our own life, and the lives of others, more fulfilling by giving of ourselves, pouring out. It’s just one more example of God’s seemingly backwards economy – pour out to be filled up. Honestly, I wonder if that’s why Jesus saved His act of stooping to wash the feet of His disciples right before He began His journey to the cross? Was He filling Himself up one last time by serving before pouring His all out from the cross? It’s indeed something to think about, isn’t it? And sobering!
I encourage you to put it to the test and please, if you want, share this idea with a friend and then come back and share your experience with us here. Let’s serve one another...and as unto the Lord. Together we can make a difference! Let’s make our souls fat and water others too, we really none want to be a strainer, do we?
Serve it out!