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Serving Should Define Your Life - September 6, 2013

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Audrey Jong
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Post  James Wed Aug 28, 2013 11:16 pm

Matthew 20:28
28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Service is not something to be tacked onto our schedules when we can spare the time. It is the heart of the Christian life. Jesus came "to serve" and "to give" - and those two verbs should define your life on earth, too.

Jesus taught that spiritual maturity is never an end in itself. Maturity is for ministry! It is not enough to keep learning more and more. We must act on what we know and practice what we claim to believe. Study without service leads to spiritual stagnation.

Yet serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we're more interested in "serve us" than service. We say, "I'm looking for a church that meets my needs and blesses me," not "I'm looking for a place to serve and be a blessing."

But as we mature in Christ, the focus of our lives should increasingly shift to living a life of service. The mature follower of Jesus stops asking, "Who's going to meet my needs?" and starts asking, "Whose needs can I meet?"
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Post  James Fri Sep 06, 2013 8:00 am

Personally I like to recap my day within my thoughts at the end of each day, seeing my productivity and how the day was significant to me. In today's society, I find that occupations usually label a person's life and we're quick to assume their lifestyle, based on their specific field of study. Similarly, as artists create a form of art, serving should feel as if we are a servant. Once we have that humbleness and devotion, we start to realize that our life is shown in front of us mentally from society. As we grow up we're bound to encounter questions such as, "What do you do in your spare time?" "What were you up to, after work?" If we were spending our spare time playing video games, we'd be labelled as a gamer. However, if we had used our own spare time to serve and honour God, we should define ourselves on a personal level as a servant.

As I grow in my faith journey in Christ, I just hope to see more of a consistent pace in my day recaps. Which would consist of honouring and glorifying God by serving. This devotion really reminds me of Dan Kim's sermon on faith & deeds. We can't serve with an empty heart.
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Post  Pa Ta Rick Fri Sep 06, 2013 8:57 am

Yea i like how it talked about Christian maturity today because i feel that everyone spiritually matures differently. You see things differently and you see things differently. I find that doing missions really changed my maturity level because all the missions have done were really difficult and it really changed how i saw things. i like how it says, a mature follower stops asking whose going to serve my needs and start asking whos needs can i meet?
Right now, I am not at the point where i am willing to server anyone and everyone, and i still have my needs which is selfish of me but who doesnt? We still have the rest of our lives to mature but this doesnt mean that we can keep pushing away God thinking that we still have our lives. What i mean having the rest of our lives is that we have the rest of our lives to experience different things and grow spiritually
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Post  julie.ro Fri Sep 06, 2013 10:53 pm

"Who's going to start meeting my needs?"
I think that is a question everyone, including myself, subconsciously ask themselves.
I for one, know that I definitely haven't been asking myself the opposite: "Whom shall I serve?" or "Whose needs shall I meet?" when the answer is clearly God, and that we, as the praise team, should be meeting the ministry's needs in worship.

As an individual, I know that I myself, haven't been the most diligent in practicing what I claim to believe, and I think that I tend to forget that Jesus came down onto Earth not for GOD'S glory, but to meet our needs and to save us. We all know the stories; Jesus died on the cross because he chose to, he washed his disciples' feet, he preached and cured the ill. Out of the passage, the sentence "... our lives should increasingly shift towards living a life of service..." jumped right out at me. My life should be shifting towards God, even in rough days and I shouldn't be feeling obliged to serve him. But as part of my human nature, I'm not sure if I am capable of being able to freely serve everyone humbly but I hope my path towards God as part of the praise team and as an individual, will humble me to strive to become a better Christian, servant and daughter in Christ.

I've had a rough week, but I think this devotion really told me to 정신차려, you know?
Just wanted to share this verse I came upon a few days ago:

    For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
- Galatians 1:10
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Post  michellee. Fri Sep 06, 2013 11:36 pm

Being selfless and finding opportunities to serve whenever possible is something that we should seek to grow spiritually, emotionally, and mentally ourselves. We shouldn't always be looking for things to benefit us through our own needs, wants, etc. rather look on towards how we can help benefit others by being a source of genuine service for Christ. Once we start living by an "ideology" like this where we seek chances to be selfless, help others, and serve God by this mentality, we might even begin to notice our own spiritual growth, progress, and maturity.
I think if we build somewhat of a "foundation" based on humbleness, love, respect, acceptance, compassion, selflessness, etc. we might be able to serve God with a heart and mindset that Jesus had when He came down to serve us.
Instead of always asking, "What do I need?", "What do I want?", "What do I have to have?", we should maybe start asking questions like, "What do OTHERS need?", "How can I help OTHERS in need?", "How can I serve God?".  
When we serve God, we contributing to something greater than ourselves. When we serve God, instead of being the ones being served by others, we will know more, grow more and probably see things differently than we could have from being self-serving.


It's obviously not easy , but it's not impossible.
Jesus showed us that it can be done.



14 Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:14
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Post  Audrey Jong Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:39 am

As I start to mature in my faith, I find that my priorities start to change.
When I was younger, I would find a way to put myself in a comfortable position in church where it will help only me. I wouldn't pay too much attention to the other people that may need help. Growing older and learning more, I started to shift in my mindset and break out of that protective bubble in me.
Now that I am more mature than before, who can I serve?

Also, when maturing, it's not enough to just learn and keep it in your head. That's part of it but you also need to put it into practice and proving what you can do through God. Continuously, have God with you in whatever you do throughout the day. Each and everyday.

Remember that we are not here to serve ourselves but to serve our brothers and sisters.

And that is why I agree with this devo.
~Audrey~
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Post  Eunwoo Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:50 am

I like that this devo sort of goes back to the general view instead of focusing deeply on a specific.

Christians are all ministers and are all missionaries but this doesn't necessarily mean that we have to have a position in the church or go to other countries.
The most important thing is to serve where we are most needed, wherever that may be.

Whenever I had to deal with change when I was younger, I always wondered how it would affect me, both positively and negatively. I always figured that God would put me in a better position for myself than the last, or else I probably would have stayed as I was. I knew that God put certain people in our lives that we need and who help us along our path, but I hadn't thought that God might be putting me in other peoples lives to serveand help them in their lives.

It's difficult to keep in mind the idea of serving others in the name of God during daily life, but it's
something we should all do.

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Post  DunNo Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:14 am


Haha, being us, human, means that we can be self centered. It's inevitable that we become the core of our being, inevitable that we become selfish, self-righteous, self-whatever. The only self- that we are bad at is being selfless. As servants of God, we are called to humble ourselves to be servants to those around us as well. What good is it to God if we are serving him to better only ourselves when it was our calling to go out to every corner of the earth and spread his name. Thing is, being a leader is never the same as being a boss. Bosses sit on their chair, manipulating subordinates into doing stuff that the boss needs them to do, but the leader is one who steps down to work with their subordinates and essentially lead them. Likewise, we should be looking to be leaders in the way Jesus was rather than the way most big company CEO's are. So ye, serve God by serving those around you, lead not by command but by example, and I think if we all have that as our MO, then surely our faith will mature.

heh, and the quote at the end reminded me of Kennedy's, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." ya, ask not what the church/God/religion can do for you and so on

oh and obligatory
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Post  jaake kwon Sat Sep 07, 2013 2:14 am

I guess this one kinda felt more like a question of how the world runs:
Are we in a circle where we're giving to each other, or are we in a circle where we take from the other?
Know what I mean? Like; a takes from b who takes from c who takes from a. vs giving to.

Ultimately the underlining difference between having our ministry built through taking from one another vs giving to one another is subliminal in result but practical in production. I mean, the end product would have many similarities from a practical view point. Having 3 friends take 3 dollars from the other isn't going to be any different from giving 3 dollars to each other in end product. Of course there's the case where we could just not move the money, but then at that point it's proposing *isolation* and *no connections*.

On topic though; the difference within production is really within the pathetic aspect rather than the practical aspect. Giving vs Taking is the same comparison to say:
"I stabbed a patient with a syringe. Thankfully, the medication was successful and I happened to have diagnosed the disease perfectly."
vs
"I stabbed a patient with a syringe. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the right one and the patient was cured immediately."

*same effect, different motives/feelings.

Of course there's no practical difference, but the fact that there is a pathetic difference also can't be neglected, rather shouldn't be neglected. If anything, we should appeal to "giving to" because it satisfies our practical AND pathetic needs whereas the taking from option only satisfies our materialistic needs. That being said;

Give and be given to.
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Post  John Kim Sat Sep 07, 2013 8:54 am

Serving others, whether it be spiritual, emotional or physical help pleases God. It is never enough to just keep learning more about serving God and others, you must act upon it. It says in the verse,
"even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28

Jesus came to earth to serve others, not be served. If Jesus, someone of such significance who is worthy to be served and not serve does these wonderful acts of kindness by serving others, why shouldn't we be serving too? People are more interested into the whole being served as opposed to serving others.

A lot of the time we get caught up in trying to put ourselves first, and that is just a part of human nature. We are all greedy and self-centered. But we must try to act justly and serve others as much as we serve ourselves, because that is the reason why we are on this earth.

Spiritual maturity is a big part in serving others, because before you serve others you must have the knowledge to. And there is never an end to this, you ALWAYS can be growing spiritually, because no one has fully developed their spiritual maturity, because no one is perfect.

What I find is really important when serving is not to feel as if it were a chore, but to do it out of grace and love for Him. If you do not want to serve others while you are serving, there is something wrong. You have to WANT to serve and keep a positive mentality by thinking and knowing that everything you do is for God. So just remember that everything you do to serve others is to please God, so do not let it be a chore!

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