How Can You Serve?
This past Sunday was 4-H Sunday at our church. This comes at the end of National 4-H week, which is a celebration of youth participating in community service projects. The local Tisdale 4-H club served in the morning worship service.
4-H started in the late 1800’s as a way to help improve agricultural development by educating young people through “hands-on” learning. The 4 H’s stand for Head, Hand, Heart and Health. There is a pledge that is a commitment made by members of the organization. It goes like this –
“I pledge my HEAD to clearer thinking, my HEART to greater loyalty, my HANDS to larger service, and my HEALTH to greater living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.”
This pledge is about putting others ahead of ourselves and serving them. Doing all that we can to make the world a better place. 4-H-ers are a good example of how we should serve.
Jesus is also a good example of how we should serve.
In Philippians 2, we’re told to imitate Christ’s examples of love, community with others, and humility. But to avoid selfishness, watching out for our own good.
God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes. Do everything without grumbling and arguing so that you may be blameless and pure, innocent children of God surrounded by people who are crooked and corrupt. Among these people you shine like stars in the world because you hold on to the word of life. This will allow me to say on the day of Christ that I haven’t run for nothing or worked for nothing.
Often the words servant and slave are used synonymously, but they are different. A slave is someone being forced to do things. A servant, on the other hand, is someone who chooses to serve.
Christ is a good example of a servant.
There are a lot of things that need done in our organizations, communities, countries, and the world. Often people get started doing things that need done only to become burnt out. This may be because they’re trying to do too much or because it doesn’t fit their skills.
Then they feel like a slave.
We should enjoy the things that we do. This doesn’t mean that the work is never hard. If we are doing the things that we’ve been put here to do, even the hard work will be enjoyable.
This is being a servant.
Find the things that fit well with your abilities. Then take the step, growing in service, and be who God made you to be.
