The 6th of 7... part 3...

With this segment, I'm not going to reference a specific verse of Scripture, but I am going to quote my wife.  You see, we have the privilege of spending time with a group of adults from our church in what we call a "Life Group," and we were discussing the need to serve just this past Sunday.  Her words were profound, and while I may not get them exactly right, the intention will be carried forward.

"We benefit spiritually from the service we perform physically; we need to BE the hands and feet of the Body of Christ."

~ My Wonderful and Amazingly Insightful Wife

She was telling a story about having cash on hand, seeing a person in need, and giving it to that person freely.  This happened over a week ago, and the person who received the money has no doubt forgotten my wife, and forgotten that my wife stopped to give, but my wife remembers feeling like she was led to give, and she was obedient to the leading.  My wife followed the leading of the Spirit, and was blessed for doing so. 

People like me (yep, calling myself out on this one in a big way) have issues with giving to folks on the street, because I don't know what the money will be used for.  I build up the concern in my mind that the person will just use it for drugs or alcohol, and I lay out the fact that I give to my church and other organizations that are more well-equipped to serve those in need, and so I don't have to serve this person.  But, again speaking from my wife's wisdom, what if that was a test?  What if that was an angel?  What if Jesus is watching right now, in this moment, and I turned my back on someone He created?  Would He do that?

Guess what, folks... He is always watching.

Another excellent example of this service above self mentality resides in my mother.  Each year, she spends countless hours preparing meals for the homeless of our great city, and then she places them all in brown paper bags, and goes downtown to personally deliver them to people on the streets.  She has taken my daughter with her, and shown my little girl that there is an importance to serving the community beyond your individual sphere of influence.  I am humbled even as I type this, because I have not participated.  I actually asked her why she would put herself in such a "harm's way" situation, as I saw it in my limited and sloth-like view, and I was met with the answer that we all should give (approximately, not a direct quote here), as she simply asked me, "What would Jesus do?"

Sloth is so easy to fall into, friends, and while it probably seems like this one would be easiest of them all to avoid, because all you have to do is keep doing stuff, the truth is that this one is the hardest to avoid.  And it's the hardest to avoid, because sitting down and doing nothing is so much easier than getting up and doing anything at all.  Abdication is so simple a thing, and assuming someone else will do "this" or "that" is just as easy. 

What if our country... no, closer than that, what if our church... no, closer than that, what if our family... no, even closer than that, what if I decided today to get up and do that which I felt led to do, even if it's just a call to prayer?  If I did it, and modeled it for the family I am blessed with, then they could spread out and model it to their schools and the church.  Those people could then model to the city, and then spread to the state.  Those people could then model to the country, then the hemisphere, and then the whole world.  Change doesn't begin at the top, friends.  It begins with me.

Thank you, to my wife and my mother, for being examples of service above self, and for truly modeling the message of the I Am Second organization, even without knowing it.  I love you both!

Now the charge is to you, my blessed friends, to find that person in your life who lives this mentality.  Find them, and thank them, and then go and be like them... because they are Christ-like in their actions, and that is the goal for all Christians.

God bless you all!!!