Service to Others

This is week 2 in a 5 week series of Service to Others.

Week two
Good Impressions

“We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.” 1 Thessalonians 2:6

The goal of ministry service must be to point others to Jesus, not to ourselves. Our aim is not to impress others with our abilities, to have them think, My, aren’t they wonderful and elegant! The sign of effective ministry is when others exclaim, “My, isn’t Jesus wonderful!”

This means that as we minister we lay down our desire for affirmation, our need for praise and applause. We will be effective ministers when people walk away feeling impressed with Jesus more than with our own gifts and abilities.

Jesus told us, and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:38-39. The cross is the symbol of death, but here it is not His death that is symbolized but ours: death to selfishness and pride. In our total commitment to Him, we show our willingness to lose our life for His sake. And we choose not to glory in our sacrifice but in His.

Lest we should think God unkind, we must remember that it is the losing of our lives that brings real life. This is the point when we really begin living. As one dear sister of the faith said, “You think you’re livin’ now? Honey, you ain’t lived ‘til you been livin’ for Jesus!”

We preach the gospel of Christ, not our gospel. We lift up His cross, His life, His greatness, and lay down our own. And in doing so, we find new and abundant life.

Are you working today for your glory or His?

Pray that God will allow His light to shine through you. Pray that by what you do, others may be impressed with Him more than you. May they see His life in you as you lose yourself in Him.