NOV 6

Luke 17:10

Memorise Ephesians 6:7

“With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men”

HOW OFTEN DO YOU REGARD YOUR SERVICE?

To regard something is to relate to it with affection and in high esteem. Therefore when the Bible says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart…” (Psalm 66:18) for example it means to not only have knowledge that we have sinned but to have an attitude of cherishing that sinful behaviour and having an unwillingness to give it up.

Every Christian can rattle off that to be called a servant of God is the highest honour any person can obtain and to serve God is the greatest privilege he can enjoy. But we must ask ourselves, how often have we really taken the time to think about our attitude towards service? Some of us may feel it is an obligation, some a responsibility and even some look upon it as a hindrance and a chore. Perhaps the way we react when asked to contribute towards serving in various church ministries will give us some idea about our true feelings towards serving God.

Do we seek every available opportunity to serve (with prior careful thought and consideration) or do we try to give excuses to avoid committing too much of our time and resources to the Lord? Of course, we can sway too much in the other direction and end up being distracted by all the tasks of serving the Lord without actually putting our heart into it. Luke 10:38- 42 gives us an example of how Martha was so distracted by the physical aspect of performing tasks for Jesus that she neglected to do what Mary did which is to simply honour the Lord by giving Him her undivided attention. As we busy ourselves in service to the Lord, we must always remember what is most important, and that is to sit at the feet of Jesus, to hearken to His voice, and always seek to do His will and not our own.

Serving God is not simply doing, but rather, it is prayerfully submitting ourselves to Him for Him to use as He sees fit and doing so willingly, joyfully and to the best of our ability. Only when we serve in this manner can we fully appreciate the value of what we do for Him and consider our service in high esteem and with much affection. This is how we regard our service. How often have you been doing so?

Thought: We regard our service to Jesus because we regard Jesus.
Prayer: Give us wisdom, O Lord, to know the difference between serving and simply doing.