Honest Service

“and which of you, having a servant plowing and tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘come at once and sit down and eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded of him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you were commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” -Luke 17:7-10

I think in my head so many times I dress up this idea of servanthood. I get it in my head that my serving is something so grand and special and with that mindset the “humble” servant can easily become the prideful one. You begin to serve others not for their benefit but rather your own. You want people to think highly of you so you serve and serve and do it unto self instead of unto Jesus. In my life, I’ve fallen into this far too many times- honestly, I’d say I am the master of a false servanthood. And I’ll be the first to say that it’s easy to fall into and then continue to the point where it becomes a routine and habitual thing. Serving is all fun and games until you’re actually treated like a servant and don’t receive the praise you’re working for.

When a servant is serving, they are simply doing their job. Nothing special. They aren’t going the extra mile or being “oh so humble”- they are doing just what they ought to have done in the first place. It’s the bare minimum- literally what is required of you.

I think pride has a very easy door to enter in when a Christian looks back at their life and sees all the things they did for Christ and how long they walked with him. But is that special? We are CREATED to glorify God. We are called to live as bondservants of Christ- a lifelong servanthood chosen by their own freewill. This is a truly humbling thing but yet we selfish can take such a selfless thing as serving and make it about ourselves. I want my service to be honest and not dependent on what I can get out of it but rather what I GET TO give.

Follower

“if anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” -John 12:26

When Jesus called His disciples He simply said come and follow Me. He didn’t tell them they could go back home, secure everything, pack all their possessions and then come. No. They went. Period. We are called to take up our cross and GO- to die to myself and my wants and GO. The reality of who Christ is should make us drop everything and chase after Jesus. When I think of this, immediately pride and misconception creeps into my mind saying “ummm hello? Lord, I am good in this area! I mean I dropped everything and came to Guatemala, didn’t I?” This thinking is so backwards. With Jesus, you never arrive- He is too big for that and how dare I try and put Him in that box. You can always go deeper still and the deep get called into deep. Your praise to the Lord forever is growing even once we get to heaven our worship of the Lord will only grow in depth. Yes, the Lord called me here and yes, I came but yet He wants more. He continually wants my heart and He continually wants to fill me with His Spirit. You don’t just follow Jesus, you have to keep walking. Step by step. Take up my cross, daily. I have to continue to follow as a faithful servant. Where He goes, there I will also go. If I am truly a servant of Christ, then I will go wherever He calls me.

Application: This all is very fitting considering I bought my plane ticket to Costa Rica today! Tonight, I will pray and ask the Lord to forgive me for all the time I spent fighting Him and I’ll pray with Ken over our time in Costa Rica that we would be so willing to not just follow Him there but follow where He directs us while we are there and be attentive to His voice.

I'll be a toe for Jesus any day

“For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “because I am not a hand I am not of the body,” it is therefore not of the body” 1 Corinthians 12:14-15

Lately the Lord has been teaching me that He is sovereign over literally ALL. And trying to comprehend the reality of that has been blowing my mind. He has given me the life I have for His purposes and every situation I am ever in, He has ordained and He is using to prepare me for that which is next. My story is different from everyone else’s because He is wants to use me for specific things. He has put certain people, things, and obstacles in my path that way one day I may use it to bring Him glory. This past week, my team and I went to Xela, Guatemala and partnered with the church there. Some of my teammates were able to speak into people’s lives and minister to others in ways that I wouldn’t have been able to because their story is different than mine. He has written us all different testimonies in order to accomplish His perfect will through His broken but willing church.

He has given me this body- this family of Christ. And although every member of the body is not the same, all are important and useful. This past week I didn’t have some of the radical conversations with people like some of my friends did, however what I did was still important and the Lord will still use it. We all may be different parts and have different functions, yet our goal is the same- bring glory to Jesus’s name. And when we stand together as one solid and unified body of the Creator, nothing can stop us. Some days I may not get to be an arm in the body of Christ, but rather a toe and although that may seem small, it’s extremely hard to stand if you are missing a toe! It sounds silly but it’s so true. And if I can be a toe for the sake of Christ’s Kingdom then I am going to be the best dang toe the world has ever seen!

One body. One family. One blood. One purpose. One love. One God.

Application: I am going to tell my teammate about this and how the Lord used her to speak to me and thus keep us unified and reminded of how the Lord can use us.

A Submitted Heart

“submitting to one another in the fear of God.” -Ephesians 5:21

JOY

Jesus

Other

You

Okay this so Sunday school but it’s so true. It’s the pattern. Why? Why should I put someone else’s wants above my own? What’s the point? The point is, you have this fear of the Lord and because of that you submit to Him- out of honor and out of a reverent fear. And in doing that you submit to those around you and put theirs needs above your own because you know that’s what He wants from you. If you truly have Jesus at the top and are submitted to Him then you’ll be submitted to those around you. And in this pattern, you go last. It’s learning to die to yourself- to sacrifice your needs and put others over yourself. You do this because you know it’s the Lord who is over all. His will- not mine.

In this life, honestly the only thing I have control over is my heart and matter-of-factly the only thing Jesus wants from me is my heart. But He doesn’t want the crusty, black, wicked thing I have to offer- He died to cleanse my heart and thus He wants my softened and submitted heart. Submitted to His will. God uses the willing. May every day my question be “Lord, what do you want to do?” and then be willing to do it and submit to it, no matter the answer. I want the pattern of my life to be Jesus first, then others, then me. That’s where the joy is found.

For Freedom I am Set Free

“For you, brethren, have been have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” -Galatians 5:13

Every chain has broken. Every knee shall bow. It is finished. The precious blood of Christ has made us clean and set us free from the bonds of sin. What now? Now we are called to walk in that freedom. To live your life knowing you are no longer a slave to this world. We were set free so that we could walk in that freedom. So, what does that look like? It looks like love- to serve one another in that love. I have been called to liberty and to live a life worthy of that calling. I don’t want to waste my freedom. We were born into sin- into a cage and Jesus comes and He unlocks the door and swings it wide open. But what’s the point of an open door if we never walk out of the cage? The door is open but we must choose to walk through it- to walk out your freedom and live as a free people.

I don’t want to look back on this year in Ignite or my life for that matter just to see that I never used my freedom. That I just let it sit in the cage with me- Jesus is so much bigger than that cage. He died so that we could have LIFE so I want to LIVE.

It is for freedom that I am set free. 

To Be Real and Raw

“to the weak I became as weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” – 1 Corinthians 9:22

In Romans 12:16 we are told to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. There is a time for everything. And I definitely think there is a time to be weak however to the world this makes no sense. The world tells us we must always be strong- never cry, never be vulnerable, and never be real. And thus, we put on masks and never want to show anyone how we truly feel or who we really are.  

I think recently the Lord has been teaching me to be vulnerable. I don’t have a problem with being open with people- I have a big mouth and typically on accident I tell everyone everything about my life without even realizing it. Sharing the external details of my life (probably too many might I add) is simple for me. However actually being raw with people and walking and talking through the struggles internally in my heart with others is a more difficult. I never know where to start and the thoughts get so jumbled in my head and I feel like if I can’t understand them then no one else will either.

But the Lord has called us to be weak because its only there that we can see the greatness of His strength. I was to be real with people. I want to be raw- just not about external things but about the internal things in my heart and mind. I want to be genuine and be able to show others that I don’t always have it all together.  And that in that vulnerability it would cause others to want to do the same and be vulnerable with the Lord. I want to let my walls down with the Lord and with my family in Christ.

Jesus First, Others Second

“We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” -Romans 15:1

We are all supposed to be looking out for one another. As the family of Christ, it’s our job to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. For me, that picture of my family in Christ watching out for me sounds a lot better than me watching out for myself. No matter how strong I am, I can’t bear my own burdens, fears, and doubts. Why? Because I was never created to carry it all alone. The Lord tells us to cast all our cares on Him because he LOVES us and most of the time this is a lot easier said than done. As people, we love to hold onto things and sometimes it takes another believer to come along side us and help us let go of our doubts and worries and surrender them over to the Lord.

God himself is love- thus we cannot love unless we abide in Him and He in us. The only way we can be successful in bearing the burdens of one another is if we are first abiding in the love of Jesus. It will be literally impossible to love one another and bear the burdens of those around us if we are not first going to Jesus and letting Him take our own burdens. We love because He first.

However, we are also told we aren’t to do it to please ourselves- not fruit will come from that. All we do should be with the goal of pleasing the Father. In my life, I’ve tried to manufacture love so many times- making things seem genuine when they aren’t. It’s only when the love flowing from us is from the Father that He is pleased. Anything not coming directly from Him will be a plastic fake love that bring Him no glory. If we start in the right place- abiding in His love and with the end goal of bringing glory to the Father, then bearing the burdens of the weak and carrying the heavy load won’t be so heavy. Jesus comes first. And it is only once we are in Him that we are made strong and can bare the scruples of the weak. We need our family in Christ, yet it is all in vain if it doesn’t first begin with Jesus.

Application: today I’m going to pull aside a teammate and ask what they are struggling with and then pray with them to help bare that burden.