Serving Others: The Path of Blessing
Intentionally serving others is not always convenient, but when we do as Jesus says simply because we love Him, He will reward us.
Several hours before Jesus was arrested, He and His disciples shared a last meal together. Then He knelt before the men and, one by one, washed and dried their feet—Judas included.
“Do you understand what I was doing?” Jesus asked when He finished the job. “Since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”
Then He added the clincher:
“You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing” (John 13:12-17).
Often easier said than done
Given our human nature, following Jesus’s example is often easier said than done. Who wouldn’t rather be served than serve? After all, being the recipient of another person’s kindness makes us feel special. Important. Loved.
Donning the role of servant and doing the dirty (often thankless) work doesn’t carry the same appeal. Yet that’s exactly what we’re told to do.
Intentionally serving others—even the Judas in our lives—is the path of blessing. Doing so is not always convenient, and it might prove costly in time, energy, and resources, but when we do as Jesus says simply because we love Him, He will reward us.
The reward
That reward might be the joy of knowing we’ve done what’s right. It might be the satisfaction we feel upon helping lighten someone’s load. It might be experiencing God inexplicably making up the time we’ve invested to serve. It may even be personal transformation as we begin to care less about our own needs and more about those of others.
Whatever the blessing we receive, that’s up to Jesus. But putting into action the things we know is up to us.
How about you?
What’s one act of service you can do for someone this weekend?
I’m going to invite friends over for Sunday supper and prepare a homecooked meal. I’d love to hear what you’ll do.
Know you are loved,
Grace
I love your message today, Grace. It’s true. Jesus didn’t say all that for nothing. He has our good at heart. We serve a good God and he is going to be sure that we get shown his kindness and blessing each time we do his will. Yes, it is always good to serve others. I love your plan to have friends over and make them a nice meal. Fellowshipping in the Lord is one of the most heart-warming, God-honouring, and people-loving things we can do.
Blessings on your household and the supper and friends.
Hi Marge! So…how will you serve someone this weekend? 🙂
Well Grace……thanks for asking! I “listened” for quite some time, to a friend who had many friends and tons and relatives, but no one had time for her.
She and I were truly blessed. In fact, I’ll look her up again, because I noticed that her words; her speech, was all scripture-based and she is learning to fully trust in God. (do we ever fully learn that?) (I believe we still will always need each other).
I also prepared a special meal for my family and we locked the door and sat in quiet and gave thanks to God and spoke of His wonders, and enjoyed the meal in quiet. It was SO nice. I took my husband out to see the moon.
Oh Marge, these loving acts of service are wonderful! God bless you for being a good listener and friend, for providing a supper sanctuary for your family, and for taking your hubby to enjoy the super moon 🙂
God is giving us such a beautiful November.
🙂