You were put on this earth to make a contribution. You were created to add to life, not just take from it. This is called your service or ministry (those two words mean the same thing!) and this is our 4th purpose = Shaped to Serve God! From Day 29 of The Purpose Driven Life, we see that....
* You were created to serve God.
* You were saved to serve God.
* You are called to serve God.
* You are commanded to serve God.
A "non-serving" Christian is a contradiction in terms. We are meant to be serving others, not sitting around waiting for heaven. For Christians, service is not optional. Anytime we use our God- given abilities to serve others, we are serving God and fulfilling our calling!
One day we will all give an account of how much time and energy we spent on ourselves versus what we invested in serving others. If you aren't serving, you're just existing, because life is meant for ministry/service to others.
We all live our life for something - career, family, wealth, status, possessions, etc. But the pathway to real significance is service. For the millions who are searching for meaning and significance in their life, I wonder how many of them are serving others? We are a society that's more interested in "serve-us" than service!
God wants to use you to make a difference in His world. He wants to work through you and He will use you if you stop making excuses. Are there things that are keeping you back from accepting God's call to serve Him by serving others?
Download this week's handout and audio lesson here.
Share with us: Do you agree or disagree with the statements: "The last thing many believers need is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they put into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise what they have learned." (pg. 229)
This started in January....wish I would have known! Do you think it would still be beneficial for me to go back and download all of the lessons and do them on my own? It looks like such a great study!
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need serving opportunities to participate in. I personally love being actively involved in serving projects. I love helping with big church dinners and making food for fellowships, decorating for them. I enjoy packing boxes up to send off to soldiers. I REALLY love helping every week with middle school ministry! I like buying and packing for shoeboxes at Christmas and I get encouraged from making phone calls to Moms and Dads of teenagers about camp and programs. I love teaching The Bible though too and while serving is the action part...we still need the study of God's Word. There is no such thing as too much good Bible study. There are bad Bible studies and boring Bible studies...but when it is engaging it is very fruitful and feeds the soul. Both are essential parts of growing...serving and study together.
ReplyDelete