Service

“But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot has held fast to His steps
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food”

These words come from a man in the bible named Job who during his lifetime, in a very short span of time, experienced some of the most terrible physical and emotional atrocities. Job lost all his children to a mighty wind that caused the house they were dining in to collapse, crushing them to death. Neighbouring enemies looted all his extensive wealth and riches. Fires fell from the sky burning His cattle and killing all his servants. He was cast down with terrible sores that covered his whole body from head to toe. Jobs’ suffering was so great that he sat on the ground with a broken piece of pottery and scrapped his sores, not speaking for seven days and seven nights. His own wife even charged him to ‘Curse God and die!’

Job’s response to his wife’s desperate plea was “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" You see Job had resigned himself to living a life of devoted service to God. This meant that he would stand by God in the good times and in the bad. The key to Job’s character and integrity, lay in this unwavering commitment to a life of service.

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. 2 Timothy 2: 3-4

Paul in the bible, an early advocate for Jesus, uses the metaphor of a soldier to express the kind of service that Jesus requires from His followers. A soldier cannot enter into the army lightly. They must be prepared to die for their commitment. This is something they must seriously contemplate before signing up, as death is a real possibility. However, and perhaps even more challenging, a soldier is required to give up control of their life and place it in the hands of their commanding officer, to lose the importance of self. Valuing their responsibility to their country and its people, over their rights as individuals. It has been stated that the Christian life begins with a funeral, the death of yourself.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:45

These are the words that Jesus spoke about himself when he walked the earth. He came to the world to live a life of service. His sole purpose was to fight for the freedom of others, to fight for the freedom of the world. He defended the prostitutes, healed the leper, sat with tax collectors, he loved the unloved. This was His life of service, a service to the very people He created and called His children. This life of service required Him to endure hardship and pay the ultimate price. To give up His life and die a cruel and agonising death on the cross so that we (you, who are reading this) could stand before God without guilt and shame because He took it for you on the cross.

Job, who we mentioned earlier, made a commitment to love and serve God in and out of season, despite what was thrown at him. He trusted God to bring Him through all his troubles and hardships and ultimately he knew that his present sufferings were nothing compared to the joy that he would experience for eternity with God in heaven. Are you prepared to live a life of service to Jesus? It may be a struggle at times and cause you to endure hardship, but it will yield the most abundant and fulfilling life you could ever imagine. It will cause you to be in tune with the heart of God and partake in the riches of mercy, compassion, justice, hope and love.

Provision written by: McGladius