Servitude
A part of the life we live inevitably embraces servitude. This can be service to our bosses at work, our family , friends and community. As Christians , this may also mean servitude to the church, our pastors and fellow church members but most importantly servitude to God.
Which brings me to the little nugget of revelation I had,
I don’t think I ever quite understood what it meant or felt to serve God, or rather I don’t think I knew how to separate serving man in church from actually serving God. Well why do I say so? All my life for as long as I can remember my family always served at church, for the church and in the church. It is something that I took up like any normal child will learn and pick up from their primary socialization set up, and I have grown to love to serve but I don’t think I grew to understand what it really meant to serve God. You see, we often hear things in church like, “ you need to serve God and you do so by serving his people, that is what God requires of us”. Whilst all this is true and not bad at all , we do forget to mention that servitude to God may not look glamorous or feel glamourous at all.
We recently had an Easter conference at my church, and I took up the lead role of Hosting our guest speakers. That meant coming up with a menu , booking accommodation, driving them to and fro and cooking 2 pretty heavy meals for them for the next 4 days straight. I want to say I did this with all my strength but at times my strength could have failed me.
When all was said and done on Sunday, I was overwhelmed with so much emotions, I couldn’t even quite understand why I felt this way , until my Pastors thanked me for all the work I had done with my team and prayed for me. It was then that I understood what it really meant to serve God. Though they gave such a heartfelt speech of gratitude , it was not enough for me compared to what I felt I had done. Have you ever felt like you gave all you had, mentally, physically and spiritually to serve? That’s how I felt and it wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful for what they had to say but it was realizing that all I did was never meant to be praised or gratified by man. What does this mean you may ask.
We live in a world that is desperate for approval , affirmation and gratification from man, and we Christians are not immune to this, we get excited when our church leaders compliment what we are doing for the Lord or the church and most likely strive to always be complimented, this isn’t at all bad but after a while it becomes a sign of immaturity. As they thanked me for all I had done, I couldn’t help but feel totally unworthy because I know they are people who live this life not for only 4 days but everyday including themselves and I realized that if this was my life everyday , how many times would people have to thank me for what I did, and what could it really do for me?
When we serve God or the church simply to be thanked or seen we stand the risk of a burnout, pride, bitterness and many more to say the least. As a Christian you need to reach a point where your servitude isn’t dependent on whether or not people acknowledge the work you have done or thank you for it but truly serve as unto the Lord, to the point that our servitude is not only lip service or ‘good deeds’ but is a form of worship to God. That is what will bring true satisfaction and joy , that is what will prevent being bitter or angry when people don’t acknowledge the good work you will have done. There are many unsung heroes of faith, some we will never know but that really doesn’t matter anyways because the one who really matters , Jesus Christ , knew them and knows them.
Galatians 6: 9–10 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone — especially to those in the family of faith.