Something that's been on my mind lately is how selfish I am. And how selfish the church is, as a whole. Yes, there are churches that do a great job with serving others and giving love, but as a whole, many churches are introverted.
What I'm talking about can be illustrated by looking at how many things church people do to "get," at the same time putting off giving for missions trips and soup kitchens. In my church, I go to church on Sunday and listen to a sermon (receiving), go to youth group on Wednesday (receiving), go to Faithwalkers over winter break (receiving), go to the True Life Retreat in the fall (receiving), etc. The question then becomes what am I doing to give to other people my time and love and service? There are things that I do (Good News Club, volunteering at the City Union Mission, teaching a group of young teenage boys at my church, going to camp in Oklahoma for a few weeks, going on a mission trip once a summer), but I don't feel like that's enough. Even if that's enough, I get the feeling and I know people who do a lot less than that. Why don't Christians want to act out what Christ says, to "give up your lives for your friend (or enemy, or people you don't even know)?"
Serving and volunteering in places where we're comfortable isn't going to help us grow. When I first went to Oklahoma in 2007, I had made up my mind that I did not want to go, that it was going to be a horrible time, etc. But it was an amazing time, and I was changed by serving in a place I wasn't comfortable in and didn't want to be when I got there.
My challenge for you: give your time to people who need it. Make time to give time. Do things you're not comfortable doing. Evaluate your schedule: are you receiving a lot more than you're giving? Are you giving at all? What do you need to do to give more? Are you ever serving outside of your comfort zone?
Your post reminded me of a really good book I read lately. It's called "Humility" by Andrew Murray. You should definitely check it out. I have a lot to learn from what he has to say. :)
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, Peter. We should talk about this later...or we could organize a service project in the church neighborhood. You in?
ReplyDelete:)
now that's what i'm talking about.
ReplyDeletenice change of pace.
marion
good thoughts. i think we get so caught up in even "serving" that it becomes about us and how much or what we're doing. Christ was our example. he just did. he didn't have a plan of where he was going to serve on what day of the week or whatever, he lived his life and served as God told him to.
ReplyDeleteyou are right in saying we have to make time though, we get so busy with our own lives and problems.
I think maybe this is not what you were talking about the other night when you said something about always asking for things... I'm sorry.
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