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MEDITATION:

Written by James Merritt, a contemporary pastor and author.ctor of Impact Prayer Ministry.

In the church where I pastor, as in every mainstream church, we talk often about serving others. Often we make a list of serving roles on Sundays, from being an usher and collecting the offering, to being a greeter, helping on the parking team, or leading a preschool classroom. Each of these roles is important and helps our church function and be an engaging and welcoming place to come to know God and grow in His Word. But don’t let that hour on Sunday be the totality of your service. As a Christ-follower, Jesus instructs us specifically in the area of serving others. What it looks like, He says in Mark 10, is that each of us in daily life put our own interests behind the interests and needs of others. So far behind, in fact, that our desire should be that we are consistently meeting the needs of everyone else.

Jesus reminds us that He did not come to be served, but to serve. This is an astounding statement. The Son of God—if anyone should expect to be served it is Jesus. Yet His life on earth was filled with examples of serving others. And His specific instructions to us follow along with His example. To follow Jesus is to live a life where we are always looking for ways to meet the needs of others, through our talents, gifts, and abilities. It is a lifestyle of putting others first, thinking not about ourselves and our own desires, but also about what others lack that we can provide. Certainly opening doors and handing out bulletins on Sundays is a way we can serve. But don’t let your Sunday service keep you from a lifestyle of service. What are you doing Monday through Saturday to impact your community, your school, your family, or your business through your service? Is your life, as Jesus commands, one in which you are not first, but last, following the example of Jesus and using what you know and what you have to lift up and help everyone around you?

PRAYER:

Written by Kevin Halloran, a contemporary pastor and author.

Lord, Your Son left the pleasures of heaven for a life of service on earth—and He gave his life for undeserving and ungrateful people. Help me have His attitude, remembering that You oppose the proud and give grace to the humble. You must become greater; I must become less—only then does the glorious reality shine forth that Christ is highly exalted above every name in heaven and on earth. May my entire being bow before You in loving allegiance, confessing You as Lord over all of my life and all of creation, to the praise of Your glory. Amen.