The Joy Of Serving

"Just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many"

These words, spoken by Jesus were repeated a few more times in the Bible. Just in case we didn't hear it the first time, he's most assuredly letting us know that serving is more important than being served, which requires sacrifice.

We may associate serving with such things as washing feet as he did, or serving food, giving help, and even helping someone across the street. But giving is serving which includes the financial support given to churches, charities and non-profits like ATB, and that also requires sacrifice. When someone puts a dollar in    the basket it is just as sacrificial as a large donor who blessed us with a life changing gift. They both served!

I was looking at two grants we received recently that totaled $25,000 and at an envelope handed to me from another small meeting that had $2.50 in it and I had some thoughts. First, I wish that the purity of serving, as Jesus spoke of it, was just about the act of it and not have anything to do with money. That's what I and those of us who serve at ATB signed up for, just helping people through our service.

Secondly, in a moment of gratitude I thought of the magnitude of those gifts and how the ones who gave it paid a price to serve it to us, which brought me to the last part of that scripture from the Bible. Virtually everything that churches, charities and non-profits do comes from what happened on that cross. The goodness of God overcame the selfishness, evil and corruptness of this world to bring us this message.

No matter how much it hurts to give, including the enormity of the situation, serving is the currency of heaven, it is a by product of salvation that each one of us can do. Serving the homeless, talking someone out of a relapse, helping a child learn how to read, it all matters if we follow the directions of our fallen leader.

​When we do, I am pretty sure we are getting an ovation from many of those angels in heaven that came before us. That's a donation that is priceless!