Serving God By Serving Other People

Reiterating what I said yesterday in my bio, I am constantly struggling in my relationship with God and the topics I choose to discuss are some of the most difficult for me to live out. Serving God by serving other people is one of those topics that I wish I could say is easy for me, but my stubbornness seems to interfere sometimes. However, it is so clearly stated that this is something God wants us to do all day, everyday, despite our pride or stubbornness. John 15 is just one example of where Jesus states His desire for us…

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

There is no way around it. We are commanded to love each other as God loved us. The first thing that comes to my mind as ways in which God loves us is sacrifice. He made the ultimate sacrifice of His own son. Who are we to fret about sacrificing our time or energy to love on people? Serving others, as God has intended for us to do, is something to fight for in a society that thrives on living for yourself and living for your own successes. For someone to step outside of the societal norms and do something for another human being without the possibility of worldly rewards makes on lookers take a step back and wonder, “Why did John Smith do that for Joe Shmoe?” This recollection could be totally subconscious, but it ultimately allows people to see that you are living for something much greater than yourself.

There are so many practical ways we can serve other people on a daily basis. Selfless acts can manifest themselves in obeying our parents, spending our weekend helping a friend move, maintaining a good attitude when we are stuck in a long line at the grocery store, or better yet, allowing someone to go ahead of you in line at the grocery store. These are just simple examples, but there are so many more ways in which you can radiate God’s love so that people understand that there is something different about the way we live our life.

While we will never be able to live exactly the way God intended for us to live, continuously placing other people before our selfish needs is something we can consciously choose to do that pleases the Lord.

XOXO,

Lauren

What are some other practical ways that we can serve God by serving other people?