serving

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I've been spending more time serving in my church these past months, always finding that the more time and energy I give, the more I get in return. And I don't mean just from the other people working with me (though they've definitely blessed me a bunch). I'm referring to a trend occurring in the other facets of my multi-faceted life - things are surprisingly, wonderfully, and miraculously falling into place for me. It's encouraging and empowering.

So I felt compelled this week to find out why exactly I'm called to serve. I knew it was a good thing to do, but that's about where my Biblical basis for the practice started and ended. Was it necessary? Couldn't God do it all without me? Isn't it enough that I just love people?

Haggai 2:15
"Now give careful thought to this from this day on - consider how things were before one stone was laid in the Lord's temple".

The context of this verse is that the Judahites in Jerusalem had been noticing a new trend; all the toil they were doing for their own personal benefit was becoming ineffective, inefficient, and unproductive. They would go to draw fifty measures from a wine vat and find there were only twenty. At this point the prophet Haggai delivered God's word to the people, that they should first build up the temple of the Lord, and that the rest of their lives would fall into place thereafter. The Judahites were faithful to this command, and God was faithful to his promise - not only was there a direct causal link between putting God's house first and seeing their own estate prosper thereafter, but that link still applies to us followers today, for God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

1 Corinthians 14:26
"Let all things be done for edification".

God's command is clear. All that we do should be for edification, meaning the "building of a house". God wants us to build up one another and build the church He has placed us in, so mere attendance on Sunday falls short of this command. And don't be afraid of it;

Matthew 11:30
"My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

When you're doing the work God put you here for, the work to which he sanctified you in the womb and for which he provided you with gifts and abilities, there He says you will find rest from the incessant fatigue and exhaustion that a self-serving life promises to deliver. Working for God is the fulfilment of what you were created to do.

So we are commanded and designed to serve. What's more;

1. Serving is in keeping with striving to be more like Jesus.

Matthew 20:28
"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve."

2. Serving is a privelige we have, something to rejoice about!

Psalm 100:2
"Serve the Lord with gladness".

3. At the end of the story, God fulfilled his promise to the Judahites in Jerusalem, prospering their estates once they had started out by building his house.

Haggai 2:19
"From this day on I will bless you".

In short, like the Son of Man you must follow God's command and build up his house with a glad heart - you'll find you're designed for that exact purpose - and you will be blessed. Sure does explain a lot of recent miraculous improvements in my own estate...

Serve!