The Reason to Serve

As believers, we are meant to serve others. Times of prayer and contemplation, inward reflection and personal growth are important, indeed vital, but Jesus said in Matthew 20:28, "...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve..." He followed up that statement by saying, in John 13:15, after taking on the servant's task of washing his disciples' feet, "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you."

We all serve in different ways, but keep in mind we are called to do mundane things well. Giving preference to others, not demanding to have our own way. Doing our jobs with joy. Smiling. Even service in these seemingly small (but extremely important ways)sometimes isn't easy. Some folks don't respond well to our good cheer. Sometimes, we may try to help someone, who either doesn't seem to want our help, or who asks for help, then displays what we think is a stunning lack of gratitude for what we do. We might decide it just isn't worth the effort because if we're not having much of an apparent impact, what's the point? If people don't want my help, why bother?

Something I read recently in "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers reminded me of what our motivation for service must be. "If our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and broken-hearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. But if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another."

The other thing to keep in mind in considering our frustration with the actions of others is our own ingratitude. Chambers finishes his thought on the matter by saying, "Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake."

Knowing we have done our best to serve according to God's standards and out of our love for him must overshadow any dissatisfaction we feel about the way people respond. The good we do should not be done for recognition or earthly reward; we should be willing to serve when no one else is watching and when nobody seems to even care.