The Beauty in Serving

Serving. Such a "churchy" word isn't it? Something you do maybe once or twice a year, most likely

because you feel like you have to. Or maybe it is required. Either way, when looked at it in this light, it carries a pretty negative connotation. It's not inviting, it's not exciting, nor does it carry love. It's more of a duty than a desire.

 "You have been called to live in freedom, but don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love." ~ Galations 5:13

The next verse is where the famous "Love your neighbor has yourself" comes from. Serve one another in LOVE. What a thought to chew on. When I serve, sure I probably could say that I love whatever IT is that i'm doing. For me it is serving with the kiddos in children's ministry. But when we serve are we serving IN love, or in obligation? Are we serving because its what naturally flows out of our hearts, or are we just checking another item off of our Sunday "To-Do" list?

This past weekend I traveled the 5 hour trip home to where I grew up. My parents still live in the same house and we still have the same neighbors. As I sat writing one morning, looking out the window, I experienced beauty. Utterly amazing, natural beauty. What I saw was a small neighborhood of people gather together to serve one another. I looked out the window and saw them mowing, raking, and cleaning up eachothers' yards. Some where on ladders up in the gutters, some were loading leaves up to be taken away, I even saw a little boy with rake in hand. Now this, I said to myself, is true serving. They didn't plan it, didn't need to make a Facebook event, didn't need to use any bribes to round up any willing souls; they simply saw a need and chose love. This is what serving looks like. It shouldn't be another mark in our schedules, it should flow out of us naturally. True serving is done in love, and love is an uncontrollable emotion that overflows out of us onto those around us. It doesn't take much effort, and doesn't put a damper in our schedules.

I read the book "Love Does" by Bob Goff and he pretty much took my perspective of living a christian lifestyle, crumpled it up and flushed it down the toilet. One of my favorite quotes is when he says something along the lines of- "Perhaps the reason our autocorrect so often changes the word "love" to "live" is to give us a gentle reminder to live love, not just type it". LIVE LOVE. I like that. I don't want to just talk about love, I don't just want to learn about Jesus and simply read His word, I want to live it out. I want to walk it. breathe it. have it overflow out of me uncontrollably. I want to look for ways to add love to my schedule instead of whitespace. (If you're anything like me and your schedule has everything but whitespace, you'll know exactly what I mean).

Now, I don't mean start saying "Yes" to every single need that places its ugly self in front of you. That will surely be enough to wear you out. It's ok to say "no" sometimes, we need rest for our souls too. But what I do mean is to stop "serving" out of duty and start serving out of desire. If you're not serving out of desire maybe it's time you step back and get on your knees and spend some time with your Papa. Because most likely, if you're serving out of duty, your prayer life has been suffering. Jesus doesn't want serving to be a burden. He came to take our burdens. Jesus served out of complete humbleness and compassion, and I don't know about you but my only real goal in life is to become more and more like Him. He wants to change your perspective of serving into something holy and beautiful. Serving that comes out of our heart in this way will never be a burden.

About the Author: Rebeccah Ahlrich is a 23-year-old college graduate from Minnesota where she is now a full time nanny and also involved in part time ministry in Africa during the summer. Rebeccah is growing a love for writing that she would like to share and encourages others with on her journey with Christ.