Day 29 - Accepting Your Assignment
You were put on earth to make a contribution…
Our purpose is not just to take up resources to consume them on ourselves - to eat, breathe and take up space. We are meant to make a contribution with our lives and make a difference. Much of the information we take in today gives us a “consumer” mentality, and it reinforces how to “get” the most of of life, but that is not how God made you. He designed you to add to others and give of yourself. It’s called service.
You were created to serve God. “It is God himself that made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives helping others.” Ephesians 2:10 (LB)
“Before I made you in your mothers womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work.” Jer. 1:5
Isn’t it an amazing fact that you are chosen? It happened before you were born and God has a special purpose and work for you that is going to be a great blessing to others?
He saved us to serve others. In God’s Kingdom, you have a purpose, a place and a role to fulfill. This gives your life great significance and meaning. Whenever you serve someone else, you are actually serving God! We don’t serve each other out of a sense of duty, guilt or even fear, but out of a deep gratitude for what he has done for us. Our past is forgiven, our present has meaning and our future is secured. What a wonderful blessed place to be able to lay down our lives for one another, and in reality, laying them down for the King of kings.
If I have no genuine love for others, and no desire to serve others, only an obsession with having my own needs met, then I need to question whether or not I have truly been saved and know Jesus and he is in my life. Think about it…. if our nature is Chirstlike, and he is living His life through us, then we should find joy and a passion in serving each other. It should come as naturally as breathing.
When we responded to God’s call on our lives and gave our hearts to him, Jesus gives us “new ears to hear with, new eyes to see with, new hands to help with and a new heart to love with..” It’s a work of grace inside of us changing us to help each other. Your service is desperately needed.
At The Highlands Christian Fellowship there are over 1,700 brothers and sisters that have given their hearts to Christ since the new campus has been opened. These new believers need us to serve them, mentor them and show them the love of Christ in order for them to grow. What can you do to help out? You have a vital role to play in the process of their growth, and in doing so you grow.. it can be a very eye opening thing to consider that there are people waiting for you to take your place in the body of Christ so the whole church can be built up into a strong and mighty army. Knowing that you are significant in this, is important to know isn’t it?
The fact is that this is not some optional “when I feel like getting around to it” issue. We can dance around the issue giving encouragement to each other, but at the end of the day….it’s a commandment, not a suggestion.
God shows us in nature what happens when fresh water flows in from a beautiful stream, and makes a lake. A big lake that has water flowing into it and then out the other side, is a place where life grows abundantly, teeming with aquatic life and a place of provision. On the other hand… water that comes in and doesn’t flow out becomes a stagnant pond, and like the Dead Sea, it cannot sustain life. So it is with us… we cannot keep taking in, and not give out.
Ever wonder why you may be feeling stagnant and like your not growing? Consider how much you are serving and giving out of the life that God has put in you. It’s really not an option. You are really only fully alive when you are serving others! If you are not serving, you are just existing… not really fun now is it?
The fact is that we are all giving our lives for something. Career, hobby, sport or wealth, but none of these things have a lasting eternal significance. It’s through serving we find significance and purpose. It’s the very gift in you that God put there from the beginning. You have felt it. You know it. You have it in your heart. It needs to be released to the rest of us through service and your care for us that will help us be who we are.
Rise to the call my brother and sister. Accept your assignment and we can discover who we are together as Christ’s body here on the earth. Don’t let anything hold you back…