Scripture

 ^“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

~Matthew 20:28, NLT

Quote

When we realize that Jesus Christ has served us in spite of our meanness, selfishness and sin; nothing that we meet from others can exhaust our determination to serve others for Christ’s sake.

~Oswald Chambers {My Utmost, Feb. 23}

I like reading Chambers; he stirs my imagination. I can’t say that I always understand his logic; nor do I always agree but I do whole heartedly agree with his entry for February 23. We have to maintain our priorities and Jesus must be preeminent in everything. It is Jesus first and Jesus foremost. With that said, to be His servant is to be a servant to mankind. There is a huge difference between a humanitarian and a Christian. Humanitarians do good for others but they are not constrained by the love of Christ. He gets no glory from their humanitarianism. Any motive other than bringing glory to Christ is vain. If we forget our priorities and serve others for humanitarian reasons, we are apt to burn out because people as a whole are very ungrateful. A dog has a much more gratitude than a human. Every American should be thankful. We live in a land of freedom and opportunity. But grateful doesn’t describe the average American. Matter of fact, we live in a land of spoiled brats who think they are entitled to wealth without work and sacrifice. We throw money at every problem and money is not the solution. Has the welfare system worked? At one time, we were a nation of working people; now half or more are on some form of government entitlement or welfare. You don’t fix a poor man by giving him money; what he needs is a job. If he works for his money, he will be careful about how he spends it. Show me a welfare recipient who spends wisely. A carton of Marlboro cigarettes is $49 which is why most of them buy a pack at a time. I bet you would be shocked if we knew how much welfare money goes to cigarettes, beer and lottery tickets. All three are foolish and ignorant expenditures.

I am just telling you that if you making serving humanity your priority, you are going to get aggravated at people and eventually burned out. Jesus taught us to serve others but we do it to please HIM. You have to understand that in serving others, we serve HIM. Being a pastor or deacon does not mean that we are superior to anyone; the greatest among us has learned to take up the towel and wash dirty feet. Yes, you have to humble yourself to do it but it pleases our LORD. If we get our hearts right, we can serve until we are totally expended. We can pour out our life like a libation, a drink offering and we will be blessed in the process. This is why Paul said to the Corinthians, “So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well.” BUT our motive and priority has to be right; we love and serve others for Christ sake.

Extra

I do praise the LORD for His infinite mercy and grace. We wrapped up the winter bible study last night and had another good service. I do want to thank Bro. Tim and Sardis Springs for having us. I also got a pan of homemade rolls after the service last night. Big Mama says more rain tonight: at least the temps will stay up above freezing. Josie is praying for more rain so the roads will flood and they will cancel school.

I hope you have a great day.