WHOM Shall You Serve?

Do you try to please people? Let’s face it, either you just answered yes (with caveats of course), or a resounding NO, (because you are not one of those “people pleaser types”). If we were to step back and be completely honest, we all people please at some point or another. The question is not really whether or not you do, but to what end do you do it? Think about this…

If you please people because it is your job or your job depends on it, but secretly despise the customers or your boss, there is a strong possibility that you will not be long in your current position. If you think it unnecessary to please your spouse – who is a person – there is likely to be rough sailing ahead (or currently). My point is, let’s face it: most people have a need to please other people at some point in time in their lives. There is a term for this: serving. When we serve someone we are putting his or her needs above our own.

Serve, serving, being served…when it comes to our faith lives, this term "service," gets thrown around so much that it is more confusing, than anything else. So how do we do this without being overly selfish or being taken advantage of? It all comes down to “whom” you are serving. It is the difference between waiting “for” someone to meet you, and waiting “on” someone. One infers a passive passing of time, while the other infers action – doing something. Servers at a restaurant wait “on” us, while we wait for our lunch appointment to arrive, get it?

When we live a life where feeling good is our number one goal, we are serving ourselves. So looking to be served, or serving others can both be done out of a selfish desire to feel better about oneself: serve me and I feel better or I’ll serve you and I feel better. Either way, it is all about the “me”. Let’s face it again…when it comes to me, there is really no making me happy all the time, for all time.

Joshua 24:15 (NIV)
“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

When the Lord is who you chose to serve, the when, where, and how no longer make a difference. We can’t change everything in the world, and as a matter of fact, the only way to change the world, is to change who you are in it.

…just sayin’

In His grip,

Pastor Pat