OCT 1

I Thessalonians 1:1-10
Memorise 1 Samuel 12:24
“…serve the LORD with all your heart”

We have studied throughout this year how to become a child of God, how to seek after God, and how to obey God. This quarter, we will be focusing on another important aspect of a Christian’s life – service.

What does it mean to serve God? In today’s reading, Paul commended the Christians in Thessalonica for their excellent testimony in how they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (v. 9). In the past, they used to be engaged in idolatrous, heathen worship. After their conversion, though, they gave themselves over wholly to serve God. Because they now know the truth, their lives were committed to the service of the true and living God – the Creator of the whole universe! Their lives were completely changed. The idols that they used to serve now mean nothing to them, for God alone has become the central focus of their lives. All that they now do - their motives, goals, thoughts and actions are all carried out as unto the Lord, and not to self.

We often tend to compartmentalize our lives and think of service as just one aspect of it. For example, someone might say, “I serve God by singing in the choir”, or “I serve God by helping out in Sunday School”. While these are all good ways in which we serve God, this does not mean that all other areas of our lives can then be considered to be separate from service, or ‘non-spiritual’ in nature. Rather, think of service as something that our entire lives are committed to. When we were born again, we completely abandoned our old way of life, for we turned from our life of sin to serve God! For you, dear teen, do you realize that every single aspect of your life ought to be rendered as service to God? For example, you can serve God through your studies if you truly study hard for His glory and keep up a good testimony among your classmates. Similarly, your home life can be an area of service to God when you honour and obey your parents and treat your siblings with love and kindness.

Dear teen, may you consider today how you have been serving God through your life, and strive to give your whole life over to the service of the living and true God!

Thought: How can I serve God in every area of my life?
Prayer: Lord, teach me what it means to serve Thee!