It should start the moment we wake up, or maybe even, the moment we go to bed. Maybe it starts when we decide that playing one more game or watching one more movie isn't worth the cost it will bring in the morning. Sometimes the wisest thing we can do is tell our friends goodnight and get some sleep. Don't get me wrong. Relationships are important, but like everything, they need balance.
The reason I say that we need to sacrifice when we go to bed is because it makes it so much easier to get up. Don DeWelt would get up at four in the morning and spend at least an hour in prayer every day. For those of you that have done something and followed through with it, you know that there is a benefit to starting off the day by giving up your own 30 minutes of sleep or so in order to pray for others. I think that maybe the reason praying for others is such a great way to start the day, is because it is only in the service of others that we are able to find ourselves.
Throughout the day our minds should continually be falling back to others, and not ourselves. Genuine Christian service is found in humility. Not a false humility, and definitely not a pride. I was talking about service with my small group today about service and we discovered something interesting. The single greatest quality of a great servant was humility. What was the single greatest motivation? Pride.
At some point things have gotten turned upside down. The unfortunate fact of the matter is this: people DO serve out of pride. They keep a tally of Christian service hours. They tell people all about what they did to serve God. In their hearts, in the deep innermost parts, they keep secret pride. Maybe sometimes we're very good at appearing humble. Maybe we don't brag or show off, but deep down inside, we are proud of ourselves. Proud that at least we are serving God. Proud that at least two or maybe even just one person knows what kind of sacrifices we are making.
Pride destroys our capacity to love. Pride is the greatest anti-love we can ever let enter our hearts, and the greatest anti-love is consequently the greatest anti-God. In the service of others we are able to connect with God. Someone once went so far as to say that "The service of man is the ONLY means by which you can serve GOD."
Romans 12:1-3
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
Real humility isn't about ripping ourselves apart. It isn't about destroying our own self esteem so that God can somehow be exalted. Its about forgetting ourselves. You'll know you're doing it right when you've forgotten about yourself completely. When all of your focus is on improving the life of someone else, then you will have found humility. It is then that you will be practicing Christian service.
When we do something good, we're very much aware of it. When I go out of my way to make someones day better, they might never even realize it, but I do. Sometimes I'll think about it for a very long time. I'll think about how awesome it was of me to do that good thing. I'll think about how much better I am then someone else, even though they might have a far more healthy relationship with God. In doing this one thing, I am awesome. That is the wrong idea completely.
From what I see in the Bible, if you're living an authentic Christian life then no one needs to ask you about Christian service. It will be blatantly obvious to everyone around you, but you will be completely oblivious. You'll want to serve others because you care about them and not because you want to get something out of them.
Look at Jesus. According to Hebrews, he was at the right hand of God, in the most exalted of positions, and he came to earth for us. He lowered himself and he willingly submitted to the Father so that we might be exalted.
Philippians 2:5-7
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."
More than any other single way the grace of humility is worked into our lives through the discipline of service... Nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honor and recognition.
Jesus didn't call us to service just to make the world a better place, although that will happen. Jesus called us to a life of service because in doing so, we are made better people. We need to serve others. It is not because we are spiritually strong or physically capable that we help others. We do serve because we desperately need to. People do not need us to serve them half as much as we need them to let us serve.
Serve in the mundane things. Give yourself to people that will give you nothing at all in return. Someone asks for help with something that seems stupid, but you drop what you're doing and help them. Nobody is too good to perform the lowliest task.
Let yourself be interrupted. It is easier to hear about serving than it is to actually serve. Just about an hour ago a stranger walked into my dorm room and asked if I could help him move. I told him no and encouraged him to keep going down the hall and maybe someone would take him up on the offer. What I didn't tell him was that I was too busy writing a devotional on how to serve.
