SERVE OTHERS (Day 4 of 6)
(Need to start at the beginning? Day 1)
What keeps us from developing a servant’s heart and being available to others?
Who you love, I’ll love. How You serve, I’ll serve. Christ Tomlin, I Will Follow
A couple of years back, I had surgery and I got used to people serving me for several weeks. It was being out of the habit and getting a little lazy that stalled me out. I had to choose to step back into servant mode.
I’ve also known a few folks who felt they needed permission to serve.
Well, this is your permission. Get out there and serve. If you want to serve on someone else’s turf, ask how you can help.
A more serious issue, is where people are disdained, rather than served, because folks don’t like them or don’t feel they deserved care. That’s a hard one, because in that moment we have become judge over others. Yes, we need discernment, but we are called to be kind to those we love and those we don’t. Jesus reached out to some of the unloveliest of people and He died for us when we were covered in the muck of sin. If we’re going to love like Him and serve the way He served, we’re going to have to step out into our broken world and serve broken people.
Where do you struggle? Where are you scared or shy about serving?
We are finishing out our garden fence and Tilly’s at it again.
She’s queen of the garden.
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Image credits – permission stamp © outchill / Adobe Stock, Tilly on a pole © Lori / Doing Marriage Well
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JMJ
As much as I agree that we need to serve :),
I would gently add that sometimes attempts to serve are actually counterproductive. Sometimes what I think another person needs isn’t what they need & I end up aggravating or inhibiting them. That happened all too often in my marriage! I am all too inclined to jump in with suggestions & assistance when what the person really needs is space to figure things out on their own. It takes a lot of prayer & observation & asking of questions, sometimes, to serve in a way that actually meets a need.
Another thought :):
The greatest good you can do for another
is not just share your riches,
but reveal to them their own.
~ Benjamin Disraeli
Certainly, when you’re dealing with someone else’s turf, it’s kind to ask first.