Velcro Devotion in a Teflon World

Once more, we're featuring a "Guest Writer," you might say.  This is such an important topic, and it was one we would have been addressing sooner or later.  The fact that Lisa Crum, (songwriter, inspirational writer, and pastoral assistant), wrote this as one of Streaming Faith's devotions, well...  Apparently it needs to be addressed now.

In these last days, it seems harder than ever to find people who will serve in any capacity—much less ministry--with lasting devotion. In the era of contractual service, we seek an “out clause” in almost everything we say ‘yes’ to. Marriages dissolve once the honeymoon is over; parents abandon their post and leave their children to be raised by the grandparents (an alarming trend); and, few places of employment are left where someone can hope to work clear up until retirement. We all tend to want to milk the best out of something and then discard it once it’s no longer profitable or fulfilling to us. It makes me think of the Winans’ song, “Bring Back the Days of Yea and Nay.”
Deuteronomy 15:16-17 relates to someone who had sold himself (or herself) into servanthood. “But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life” (NIV). It was an understood law that in the seventh year, that person would be set free from the master, at which time the master awarded a blessing for the service before releasing the servant. Now, I’m aware that sometimes it’s entirely fitting for someone to operate in a season, or an agreed time of service, and then be released from it. What I do want to encourage, however, is for a special remnant of people to catch the vision of becoming a servant for LIFE.

Can we say to the Lord, “I will faithfully tend this patch of Your field, in good times and in bad, in season, out of season, when I’m praised for it and when I’m an unsung hero too. I’ll be so predictable and so constant, You and my leaders won’t have to wonder if I’ll show up to serve…it’ll be a given!”

Do you consider God’s work and His priorities something that you do ala carte, or is it an integral part of who you are? You may never be called upon to go full-time into ministry, but if He were to ask, would you be willing? What material possessions, hobbies or other preoccupations would you find hard to push aside in favor of going to a higher level in your commitment to the Lord and His work? Do you ever feel offense rising within your spirit whenever the pastor or a leader asks you to give up some of your closely guarded leisure time for a worthwhile investment in kingdom work?

Most of us who serve in the ministry do so on a purely volunteer basis; but may we, from this day forward, never look at it as a “favor” that we do for God. Whether the time we invest in ministry is a few minutes a month or several hours each week, may we treat our offering of ourselves in this way as a holy thing unto the Lord…because it is.

God knows there are times in your life when you're only able to give less of yourself—He knows babies will be born, times of sickness may temporarily slow your pace, aging parents will need care. He is not a tyrant Master! That said, in whatever capacity you choose to give yourself to kingdom work, I pray that, beginning today, you will do so with joy and with excellence, and with a renewed sense of zeal for His purposes.

Because...

I won't do this often, but today I'm going to reprint a devotional I received in my own email inbox today.  This was written by Christopher J. Harris, Overseer of Youth at Fellowship Church of Chicago.  This was such an impactful and inspiring message, I had to share it with you all.  God bless!
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As we were exiting the department store, I watched one of my toddlers struggle to hold the door open for a stranger. When I explained to him that I would help him, he boldly told me, "Daddy, I've got it..." To be totally honest with you, I was amazed and curious as to why my son would struggle to open a door that was heavier than he is for someone that he didn't know. 

So I asked him. "Why did you open that door for her?" He replied, "because..." (He had that look that implied that my question was a dumb question...) When I further pressed him for a more detailed response, in his powerful childhood expressiveness, he responded, "Because that's what we do!" I replied, "We who?" Without hesitation he answered, "God people, Daddy!"

Wow! A toddler has learned, picked up, and processed that 'God people' serve.

The truth is that we adults know that, but we don't always live that out.

As I thought more about this idea of serving, there were a few critical questions that came to mind:
1) Why do we gather for worship and call it "service"?
2) Do you think people have confused being active in ministry and actually serving people?
3) Do people really know how to serve?
4) Are we able to serve without first being at the feet of Jesus?
5) Are we too busy to serve?

As I processed these questions and all of their potential answers, I immediately began to identify the starting points of how to move people from silent observers to engaged servants. Here are five starting points to serving:

1) Pray for discernment, discipline and passion to serve
2) Identify a social area of passion and frustration (i.e. - illiteracy)
3) Develop knowledge and expertise in that area by listening, learning, observing and training.
4) Set realistic goals for how you plan to serve and what you want to accomplish through serving.
5) Build intentional time in your monthly itinerary to serve in that area of passion.

As you move through the starting points to serving, be clear that moving into a serving mindset challenges and stretches you beyond areas of comfort. It is never convenient and a part of your normal thought process. As a matter of fact, I am convinced that there is a high degree of spiritual warfare that takes place to keep us from moving into a serving mindset. As much as the Word of God is used to allow us to hear God’s heart, and prayer is to get us into communion and communication with God, I believe that serving is what helps us develop the necessary character to look like Christ and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So it is only reasonable that our enemy, satan himself, will pull out all stops to keep us into a habit and routine of movement and busyness without starting afresh with the idea of real servant hood.

I believe it is time to begin something revolutionary, and create a new normal. As the world has branded 'God people' into denominations, judgmental, arrogant, selfish, and spooky, let's re-brand ourselves to accurately reflect the character of Jesus Christ and the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Not only in moments of convenience or comfort, but consistently and courageously. We can all begin by serving people...because that’s what we do. 'God people', that is.