Many people have the misconception that being “called” by God is something only missionaries, pastors, nuns, and other church leaders experience. But the Bible says everyone is called to serve God by serving others.
We are not saved by serving, but we are saved for serving.
The basis for serving others is salvation. You cannot serve God until you’ve been set free by Jesus. It’s the prerequisite for serving. Until you experience the transforming power of God’s grace in your life, you’re too enslaved by your own hurts, habits, and hang-ups to think much about others.
Without the freedom of forgiveness, you’ll end up serving for the wrong reasons: trying to earn the approval of others, trying to run away from your pain, trying to remedy your guilt, trying to impress God. Service motivated by these illegitimate reasons is bound to leave you burned out and bitter every time.
The barrier to serving others is selfishness. Paul warns, “Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature.” The No. 1 reason we don’t have the time or energy to serve others is that we’re preoccupied with our own agendas, dreams, and pleasures.
Only a small minority of people use their lives to serve others, but Jesus said, “If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35 LB)
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Until you experience the transforming power of God’s grace in your life, you’re too enslaved by your own hurts, habits, and hang-ups to think much about others.
Steve, I have a question about this statement. I understand it from a lost person’s perspective. Grace gives the gift of salvation. But for the household of faith, how is it accomplished? Yes, I have experienced this in my life – but not for all things.
I think what I am trying to ask is how do you convey or explain how this comes about? What do we do to experience this transformation? How do we go about or even begin accomplishing this? How do we who are mere mortals help others – when we are struggling to break from enslavement?
What do we do when swinging our shackle that has just come partially lose injures another? As I look across my shoulder I can see tons of God’s transforming grace in my life. As I look forward it is almost oppressive to think about how much is still needed. As I stand in today my hurts, habits, and hang ups are real. I know I am a child of God. But so many times I injure others while trying to help because of these very things.
At least for me the transforming power of God’s grace has never been a magic wand. Boof! You are there! It has been a slow often painful process, yet part of what causes the pain is trying to serve others while waiting on the transformation. Or is that learning experience part of the transformation?
So many times we are told what is needed in Christian life but not how to obtain it.
It is almost like we tell someone the exact medicine they need, then we stand them in front of a locked, mirrored medicine cabinet. We expect them to find the key and then expect that they will know how much and how often to take their medicine when they don’t have a clue what a medicine cabinet is. You can spend a lot of time staring into that mirror and never get what you need.
Steve’s Response:
One of the questions I try and ask myself at the end of every message is very simple YBH
Yes, but how? We should live by grace in the fullness of Christ. Yes, but how?
We should be good stewards of all that God has given us. Yes, but how?
God’s transforming grace is not so much something we need to do, but to be aware of. Grace is a gift that transforms. The point is to be aware of the transformation while it is happening. If we are in the midst of turmoil, God is working and we need to be aware of the changes that are occurring.
Yes, but how?
(1) Remember – I once was here, but now I’m here. I’m making progress, positive progress.
(2) Gratitude – I have so much to give, to share, to yet experience that my heart leaps within me for the potential I have and the blessings I’ve been given.
(3) Reach – in prayer and bible study we expand the horizon farther than we could on our own.
I don’t know if I’m just rambling here or if any of this makes sense. If you don’t mind, I’d like to put this on the blog to engage others in the conversation. Names will be removed if you are OK with this. Steve
I like what you have said. Somehow it makes sense. YBH appears to be, if you will, my mantra. I wonder- if I feel this way after being a church attending Christian for a while- how confused and befuddled must the people who come in off the streets be? We keep urging them to do, be and become yet we don’t have the YBH answers. As I said I know God is working on me- the puzzle is how to allow Him to do His job without messing up His work in someone else’s life. And at the same time be of service to Him and them.
Remember though, that as people in a western culture, we want to reduce grace to a formula. “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind” can I really answer the YBH with a quick answer?
We must remember that it is a process. I know I’m terrible at remembering this, but it is true.
The command to “Love your spouse” does not easily lend itself the YBH scrutiny. It is a relationship not a formula.
Nope you sure can’t. I’m not even sure you can answer it with a long answer. What does entirely devoting one’s self to God look like?
Does it mean daily prayer and Bible study or even more? Does it mean focused concentration on God at all times in all things? Does it mean cloistering oneself away from the world? I think about this and then I wonder who will cook the meals and do the laundry and all the other little things I do to have a successful family life?
At least with the Love your spouse I can sometimes judge if I am succeeding. A smile, a hug a heartfelt thank you for a good meal these give me little clues and will likely reinforce my behavior.
What bothers me about the process is this: how do you tell if the process is correct? In the spouse example you can tell if it works. With God how do you know?
You can go along totally blinded thinking you are doing the RIGHT thing and miss the boat entirely. Example the woman and the organ. To her mind God doesn’t care if people come here or not there are plenty of other churches for them to go to. They’ll get the same thing on down the road why bother to try to change what works for her and as she assumes everyone else? From her point of view she is seeing things God’s way. From ours we’d pitch the organ, as much as I love that music, just to see a soul come to Christ and grow in His love.
I’m not sure formula is a good word I think getting it right to avoid pain and God’s judgment would be closer.
“With God how do you know?”
I think this might be the most difficult thing for people to answer. How do we know we’re following God’s will and not imposing the idea of God’s will on our own desires? Clearly, there is no formula, but I can share in my own experience some of the ways I try to discern the difference between doing what God wants me to do and what I want to do.
First, take it to God in prayer. Ask him what his will is. Ask him to reveal it to you. Then listen. Listen for the small, still voice inside your head. Listen for his answer through the way your life unfolds before you, the people who come into your path, the way you react to situations.
Second, ask yourself some tough questions:
1)Is it scriptually sound? God will not put a call on your heart that goes contrary to his word.
2)Does it involve sacrifice? God’s call almost always requires us to surrender something to follow him. At the very least, it is likely to shake us out of our comfort zones.
3)Am I trying to justify anything? This may be the toughest one of all…I think if you’re truly following God’s call, you won’t find yourself trying to justify your actions. That’s not to say you don’t try to clarify the call, but you’ll be less likely to look for ways to rationalize some preconceived notion.
Finally, I try to see if what I’m feeling called toward is something God has been preparing me for. Certainly he will take our lives in different directions and often turn us on a dime, but at least in my own personal experience I can see a pattern of events and experiences that help make sense of whatever notion it is I’m trying to discern. I could not have started my own business if God hadn’t prepared me by putting me in situations where I got to learn a great deal from the people I had worked for in the past. I could not have become a a leader in our church if God hadn’t prepared me with prior leadership experiences. I could not have begun to minister to youth if God hadn’t first put me in situations where I got to know them personally and discover that I had a gift for communicating with them.
Can following our own call can lead to hurt in others? To me, that’s a question that really gives me pause. To be very honest, I guess I haven’t been sensitive enough to consider the question. I certainly do try to see how my decisions will affect the people closest to me, but I guess I haven’t really looked much deeper than that. The only answer I might offer is that we don’t always see the results of what God calls us to do…but I am confident that he uses all things for good. What appear to us to be unintended consequences might be something another person needs to help them on their path, even if it seems painful. I don’t know…it’s a very tough question. At the risk of copping out, I guess my own spiritual gift for faith allows me to trust that following God’s call will ultimately result in good.
I don’t know if any of this is helpful or not, or even if it makes sense…I’m certainly no expert at discernment. But for myself, I am starting to learn that the more I pray and question and look for how God has prepared me for things, the more confident I become in sorting out my own ideas from God’s. It’s just like anything else: experience helps you get better at it. It takes a lot of trust and faith…but the further you go down God’s path for your life, the more your trust and faith is rewarded and reinforced. Of course, I’m also sure that when you ultimately reach the point where you are so confident that it really doesn’t seem to take that much trust any more, God will rock your world and send you off on some new, great quest!
Joe
this makes alot of sense and you certainly have an amazing grasp of God’s working in your life.
Couple of additional thoughts.
Sometimes following God causes others pain — I wonder about the emotions of Jesus on the cross seeing the pain in his mother’s eyes because of the path he choose. Could he have prevented this kind of anquish if he chose to run away. How would you have made that choice? Are we ready to give God control of our family as well?
Discerning God’s will from our will is very tricky business. I alway recommend finding a good friend or counselor who will give honest advice from a neutral perspective. it is so easy to assume the enthusiasm we feel is God’s leading when in fact it is just pride or hormones!
Can following our own call can lead to hurt in others? To me, that’s a question that really gives me pause. To be very honest, I guess I haven’t been sensitive enough to consider the question. I certainly do try to see how my decisions will affect the people closest to me, but I guess I haven’t really looked much deeper than that.
I understand where you are here – it is where I was just a few days ago. Now God has rocked my little world with this question, for me it goes farther than the family closest to me. It extends to the whole family of God. Not to mention the ones who aren’t with us yet. Fact: we do hurt others even when our intentions are the best.
Steve’s example of Mary is one well worth pondering. Does it come down to the often tough way we make decisions about our kids. No you cannot live on chocolate it is not good for you. No matter how much you love it! We know He knew that what He did was best no matter how painful.
If Jesus had not been obedient He would’ve never seen the pain in Mary’s eyes. Yet even as much agony as He was in He left instructions for her care. What does this example say to us about dealing with others?!