Serving

Serving. We hear about it all the time, but what exactly is serving? And more importantly, what should it mean to us? 

In the noun form, a serving can be defined as a single portion of food or drink, a helping, or the actual act of a person who serves. 

The verb form yields different results: to work for, to be useful, to help, to go through, to render active service to, and to render obedience or homage to. 

But the act of serving, that is much more. Serving is necessary. It is fulfilling. And it is a command for those who follow Christ. 

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, 

if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, 

if any tenderness and compassion, 

then make my joy complete by being like-minded, 

having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. 

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 

Who, being in very nature God, 

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 

rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,

 being made in human likeness.” 

(Philippians 2:1-7) 

The act of serving comes with a lot of requirements. Serving requires us to love, to share the Holy Spirit, to have compassion and to be tender. We are required to be self-less in our serving and to put the needs of others above our own. 

A lot can be said about serving but here is what it is not: service is not just checking off a task that makes you feel that you’ve done your good deed for the day. Serving is not volunteering to beef up your resume. Serving is recognizing a need, those who are hurting and giving them a face and a name and acting accordingly. And it doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. 

Service to others should not only be viewed as a commandment of obedience, but also as a faith-builder. Through the act of service we create a bridge that allows us to reach our Father and see Him through different lenses. It reveals His glorious nature in a way that we can so easily miss when we are too wrapped up in our own lives. Serving allows us to get outside of ourselves and truly appreciate our blessings while doing so. 

How has serving helped you see God?