In my last blog, we talked about excellence, and when I see that excellence coming through, that understanding, I see a change. Serving changes from “helping out” and giving back to sacrificial serving.
Serving is their personal response to God, to their Savior, to who He is and what He has done in their life. It's a very personal worship offering of obedience. No longer out of convenience, no longer an add-on, no longer the first thing that slides off their plate when their busy because they know God put it there. They look at the rest of their plate to see what they put there. That's what has to go.
Everything changes
Let me share a story that shows how dramatic this change can be. I remember a couple who served who came downstairs on a Sunday morning to find their house was flooded. They got the water turned off and sat on the curb in front of the house. They worried about their insurance and what they should do next.
Finally, the husband said, “I don’t know what we’re going to do, but if we don’t leave now we’re going to be late for prayer.”
It never occurred to them to call in and say they could not serve that morning in the 2-year-old room. They’d been with God all week in prayer. They knew when they came to Kids Community that morning that God would move through them. They might see it, they might not, but they had no doubt He was going to do it. They came out of obedience. It wasn't about the director or Blue Ridge or anyone else. It was a direct offering.
Another time there was a room where all of the servers had scheduled to be away the same weekend. When they started looking at it, they asked each other who had reservations, who had deposits. The one who had planned to go camping said she’s stay because she could change her date. They owned it. This was their offering. It's a different mentality.
Being fed through serving
One of the things God taught us is that sometimes we get this mixed up. We go to Bible studies and worship services and get fed, fed, fed — all good things, all spiritual disciples critical in development. But then we run somewhere else and we start serving and giving out and getting depleted. So then we run back to the places we get fed. Then, we can run back and serve.
God got a hold of me and said, “That's not My design. That's not it at all. There is no division between the two.”
We serve in relationship with Him. Jesus will intimately feed us as we serve Him. It's a different feeding, but it's critical in our relationship with Him. It's not a depletion, a burnout.
Yes, serving is hard. Read Paul's writings. I crawl out of here on Sundays after the last service, exhausted beyond words. But I am not depleted. I am not burned out. I have been used by the Creator of the universe. I am filled by Him.
Do we think we have to run back and forth?
Through serving, His Word goes deeper, it grows inside of us. It’s absolutely critical — being in relationship, being developed.
People come and talk to me about their relationship with God when they're struggling. One of the first things I ask is if they are serving. Usually I find that they're warm, nice people who are helping out. They are not serving in relationship with God. They didn't know it could be that way.
Please understand that the enemy is not threatened by “helping out." He is threatened by God’s children, when they are surrendered and God is moving through them. So the enemy will try to keep us “helping out.”
Serving in unexpected places
Early on, we had no building or offices, so I was sitting at my kitchen table, trying to do budgeting, staffing, and curriculum. I got up and walked around kitchen to take a break and there I felt the presence of God. I was confused because I didn’t think I had been spending time with Him. But He said, “Yes you have.”
I said, “No way. I don't even like doing budgeting!” But He was beginning to show me the connection. When I served, He poured into me. There’s nothing like it.
So many people “help out,” but God has so much more for His children — the joy, the peace. He wants us to get this. He wants others to see what He looks like. He does that through us.