SERVICE

Service sells. No! Let me correct that, good service sells. Who knows, perhaps service is the #1 selling pitch for companies. Anyway, I’m not here on a marketing agenda. I’m not here to talk about the service you are paying for, nor am I here to talk about the service you are paid to give.

The one you are not paid to give, is the one that pays more dividends, and that is the kind of service that attracts me.

Service sells, but it also costs a whole lot. Not many people are willing to freely give away something that costs a lot. However, Jesus demonstrated that the service we are not paid to give, though costly, actually pays us the most.

Didn’t Jesus say when you have done it to the least of these you have done it unto me (Matt 25: 40)?  He even said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6: 38).

What pays more than doing something for Jesus? To give service that we are not paid to give, must mean we need something pushing our motives. When it comes to this kind of heart service, love is the only motive. Love for God and love for others—the greatest commandments, are fulfilled through heart service.

Service will dwindle and eventually cease under any other motive, but heart service is service unto God. When motivated by love it usually lasts. Anything performed under the disguise for a promotion, recognition, or something else, is bogus.

Since Jesus lived a life performing heart service, it would be wise to look to Him for answers about service.

What is heart service?

By Jesus’ actions, heart service is loving the unlovable, befriending the enemy, doing the unexpected and deviating from the norm.

When do we perform heart service?

By Jesus’s efforts, every day, every opportunity. “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink” (Prov 25: 21).

How long should we perform heart service?

By Jesus’s example, even unto death. Service motivated purely by love, visits dungeon, wades through rough waters, persists and continues to the end. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”(Mark 10: 45).

What fortunes will you receive?

Redemption: Jesus was redeemed from the clutches of the grave. We will gain redemption from the clutches of our worldly habits, sinful tendencies and prideful ways. Service is the rope that can pull you out of the gutters of sin.

Elevation: Jesus sits on the right hand of God. When God establishes you, you are well established.

Restoration: Jesus was restored to His rightful position. Service is definitely a vehicle to restore broken values and bring new meaning.

Inspiration: Where else can you find your true purpose, except through heart service? Jesus found His purpose, on the streets, in the faces of a broken humanity.

Therefore, when it comes to heart service, my best advice is: study the life of Jesus and learn about the service He gave while on earth.

My realest discovery: if heart service is motivated by love, and charity (love) begins at home, then you may not have to go too far to give heart service. Begin with your family. Great families build great societies.  Great societies build great countries. Great countries build great worlds. If you want to inspire the world, inspire your family. Service first begins at home; not at church, school, or the work place, but with the people closest to you, whom God has entrusted you to love. Serve with vigor and alacrity. Serve with devotion and piety.

Now, here is the greatest secret: if you want to receive the fortunes found in heart service; begin by looking for none, and you will end up receiving a ton…they just have a way of showing up.

Gal 5: 13,”For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters.But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love”( NLT).