Sounds like a pretty innocent question.
We get up every day. We have a list of jobs to get done. We work our way through the list and then we go to bed.
If you consider it, every item on today’s “to-do” list is done to create a benefit. Even the ugliest thing we have ever done was done to achieve some benefit for someone. And that is the object of the exercise today. I want to explore whom we are trying to benefit.
When I was in basic training, I knew with crystal clarity whom I served…….but how about you…….today?
In a word……just exactly whom are you and I working for?
No matter how high you are on the social or business ladder, you are working for the benefit of someone. Even the president, like him or hate him, is working for the benefit of someone else. When push comes to shove……we all serve.
We are all servants……….but to whom?
My spouse
My family
My boss
Me
My political party
My appetites
My anger
Take 3 seconds and answer the question:
Whom do you serve?
Because…..if you don’t know in 3 seconds…..if you have to think about it, you are adrift. If you don’t know immediately whom you are serving, is it any wonder that you sometimes do things that, in retrospect, make no sense?
I am a Christian. When I get confused…….and that is every day…….I go to the Bible. The Bible is extremely clear on this subject.
I am to serve God, my creator.
But, specifically how?
Here too, the Bible is extremely specific.
Love God…….love everybody else.
Intellectually, at least, that is my answer.
So, I start my day.
I walk outside, I say, “Good morning Lord”. I pray, meditate, read the Bible. I ask God if he has anything specific that he wants from me……today. So far so good. I do some chores. Then I get in my truck to run some errands. And the wheels start to come off. Does the way I drive serve God? Does my interaction with the clerk at the DMV serve God? Does my interaction with the waitress at Twin Peaks serve God…….and what am I even doing there in the first place?
You get the point. It doesn’t take very long for me to find myself serving someone or something else from my list of God substitutes. It’s a rare day that I don’t make it to the bottom of my list at least once. It’s a rare day that I don’t spend a little time serving my anger. And when I serve my anger…….aren’t I really serving the author of my anger…….Satan?
I need to spend more time recognizing that I am a servant…….and that I serve God.
This is a truth that is easy to lose sight of.
But it is the truth.
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Paul, Collosians 3:23-24, ESV
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua. 24:15, ESV