There are no disciplines or practices that will make you magically love God. But the love of God will produce in us a desire to discipline ourselves to know Him more fully and experience Him more intimately. Just like exercise is profitable for our bodies in this life the discipline of getting in shape spiritually is profitable now and for the life that is to come. We are glad that you have chosen to join us during these 40 days as we seek to follow Paul's words to Timothy, "Discipline yourself...for the purpose of godliness."
Sunday, July 31
Hebrews 6:10— “God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.”
When it comes to serving God, many of us take the modern corporate “head hunter” approach. We highlight all the positives and try to belittle the negatives because we “need” someone to serve in the church. The truth is that serving the body of Christ is the absolute least that we can do when we see all that Christ has done for us. We are saved to serve others.
Hospitality is the word used a lot in the Bible to describe the kind of love and service God expects from us. This is showing kindness and goodness to those around you. The moment that we stop extending lovingkindness to others, we start to decay as Christians. The life of a Christian is to be others-focused. Each day we should ask, “Who can I show kindness to today?”. This is a no strings attached type of love. The world wants to “love” you to get something from you. God desires that we would sacrificially love and serve others to be a blessing, not for personal gain or the advancement of our own agenda. Who is it in your life that can you show kindness to today?
PRAYER:
God, thank you so much for the many blessings you have poured out on me. Out of all the riches of blessings that I have Lord help me to freely serve others. Help me to not be so busy and distracted to see opportunities to show kindness. When the time comes help me to share the goodness of the gospel through lovingkindness. Amen.
Monday, August 1
The Backwardness of Serving
Mark 10:43-45--”But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…”
Everything in our culture defies the mentality of serving. We are supposed to climb the professional and social ladders, not look for ways down. Upward mobility, individual achievement, accolades, and big parades are all the siren call of our world. Someone would only recommend otherwise if they had no connection to the way this world really works.
Exactly. He doesn’t. This “Son of Man” who came to serve and not be served.
He speaks of a different world, a different kingdom, a different value system, a different viewpoint, a different motivation, a different reward system. Something we somehow know we are not born into, but something we somehow know we were born for.
He’s calling us to live life differently. He’s calling us to live life upside down - from the bottom up and not the top down. To be the greatest in this world, focus on its values – power, possessions, prestige. In God’s kingdom, focus on His values instead – people. Love them. Serve them.
He went first becoming last. Now it’s our turn.
PRAYER:
God, give us the eyes and mind and values that You have and that You displayed in Christ. Help us block out the temptation of this world to be anything other than what You have called us to be for your glory and your kingdom in the world. Help us be holy, different, set apart – not in the little stuff, but in the things that really matter. Amen.
Tuesday, August 2
The Incarnation of Serving
Philippians 2:5-7 - “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
Throughout Christian history, there have always been “Christian ascetics,” those people who would draw away from the world into isolation, monasteries, etc., to avoid the temptations of the world as a means of developing holiness and the Scriptural call to God’s people to “come out from among them and be separate.”
While this may seem noble in some ways, it seems the better response to that call is to be “in the world, but not of the world.” Simply put, to be a “separate” people is not to separate from the world altogether, but to engage it full on in the power and glory of the incarnation.
Jesus engaged with the world. God so loved that He sent His son. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus “emptied Himself…taking the form of a servant.” Holiness is not forged so much in separation, but in incarnation – in the “fleshing out” of God’s work in the world, mirroring Christ’s example of servanthood.
Every time we empty ourselves to serve, we are expressing the glory of incarnation – God loving the world, engaging the world, revealing Himself to the world through those in the “form of a servant…born in the likeness of men.”
PRAYER:
Lord, my desire is to be holy, to be set apart for your purposes and Your glory in the world. Show me that I cannot become all that You have called me to be until, like Jesus, I am engaging the world, emptying myself, and serving others for the sake of the gospel and Your renown. Amen.
Wednesday, August 3
The Difficulty of Serving
Galatians 6:9—”And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
We need to get beyond the idea that serving others is doing nice things for them by giving a little of ourselves or of our time or resources. Serving others is sacrificial living. It costs us. A lot. Paul tells us above that it can become so wearisome we may just want to give up if we are doing it rightly.
It is tiring; it is inconvenient; it is often not pretty. It’s hard. As we saw yesterday, it’s incarnational; it’s “fleshy”; it’s real. It’s hands-on. And it is often not in the spotlight; it’s not recognized; it’s not appreciated or applauded. It is hidden. Sure, serving is easy when it fits our schedule or gives us the opportunity to do something we enjoy or think is important. But what about when it is hard and hand-ons and hidden?
You know, Lord, how I serve You
With great emotional fervor
In the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You
At the women's club.
You know how I effervesce when I
Promote a fellowship group.
You know my genuine enthusiasm
At the Bible study.
But how would I react, I wonder
If You pointed to a basin of water
And asked me to wash the calloused feet
Of a bent and wrinkled old woman
Day after day
Month after month
In a room where nobody saw
And nobody knew.
(Author unknown)
PRAYER:
Father, teach me what true servanthood looks like and forgive me for boxing it into my schedule, my desires, and my convenience. Help me see the opportunity to serve for your glory. Help me to respond and not grow weary in doing good. Amen.
Thursday, August 4
The Call to Serve
1 Peter 4:10-11—“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
All Christians – without exception – are called to servanthood. Not just serving in this position or that position on any given Sunday, but to a true life of servanthood. This is a life, a mentality, a value system of looking out for the interests of others (Phil 2:4), giving preference to one another (Rom. 12:10), of denying one’s self (Luke 9:23). It is a constant character of humility and surrender and love.
Too often we are guilty of “getting saved” to secure a spot in heaven or escape a place in hell with almost no thought to the demand and cost of truly being a disciple of Christ. But Hebrews 9:14 tells us the blood of Christ that has cleansed us, that is the purchase price of our salvation, works also to “purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” We are not saved for us, but for God’s purposes. We are saved to serve; and He has made it clear that to serve Him is to serve others as Christ has already served us.
We are called to serve – not just by doing the “family chores” at church to make Sunday morning happen. That is good work and necessary for the church to operate, but a life characterized by a servant mentality extends far beyond that to a sacrificial giving of ourselves “that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
PRAYER:
God, show me how to serve you – truly serve you by serving others. Help me not cling to what things I already do or to think those are sufficient, but to continually see that I am called beyond moments of servanthood to a character of servanthood, just as Christ has demonstrated for me. Thank you for saving me, for loving me, and for the privilege to return service to You for all You have done for me. Amen.
Friday, August 5
The Freedom of Service
Galatians 5:13--“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
We are called to freedom in Christ. For many, freedom is the privilege to act as one wants for one’s purposes without restraint. For Christians, however, freedom is the opportunity to choose to act God for God’s glory through a self-disciplined, Spirit-empowered life.
Elton Trueblood says it this way:
“We have not advanced very far in our spiritual lives if we have not encountered the basic paradox of freedom…that we are most free when we are most bound. But not just any way of being bound will suffice; what matters most is the character of our binding. The one who would be an athlete, but who is unwilling to discipline his body by regular exercise and abstinence is not free to excel on the field or on the track. His failure to train rigorously denies him the freedom to run with the desired speed and endurance.”
So the discipline of service, as with all spiritual disciplines, frees us to the very purpose for which we were created. It frees us to excel at those things which deepen our knowledge of God, that further our walk with God, that display the glory of God, that define the people of God, that ushers in the kingdom of God. But we are not free to fulfill our purpose without the discipline He desires – the denial of self, the surrender to His purposes, the rejection of the world’s values. The freedom to not indulge our flesh, but to serve one another in love. Serving others as service to God is not bondage; it is the true realization of freedom in Christ – the freedom to which we were called.
PRAYER:
Father, I am so thankful for the freedom you have given me in Christ. Freedom not to indulge myself, but to finally serve not as an expression of fear or guilt but of love and gratefulness for all You have done for me. Teach me to use my freedom well, for Your purposes. Amen.
Saturday, August 6
The Motivations of Serving
John 13:14-17—”If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
Motivation is a curious thing. It’s complex. It’s hard to definitively know, even within our own selves. So why do we serve? We all know a good action can have bad or wrong-headed motivations, so we need to always be on guard about our reasons for serving.
It seems that three bad ones are evident: gain, guilt, and glory. Do we serve to get status or power or worldly reward? Do we serve because we feel guilty before God and are trying to win His approval or feel guilty for our advantages in life as compared with other people? Do we serve to manipulate results and win applause or recognition or the approval of others?
Christ calls us to greater things. Not motivated by gain, guilt, and glory, but gladness (Psalm 100:2), gratitude (1 Samuel 12:24), and giftedness (1 Peter 4:10).
Finally, there is the motivation of growth that it produces in us. In the passage above, Jesus washed feet, giving us an example to follow. We should do as he has done for He is showing us the way to become more like Him. We cannot expect to escape this demand on our lifestyle, for we are Jesus’ pupils, His learners, His disciples. But when we embrace it, we are recipients of His blessing.
PRAYER:
Father, search me and know my heart. Reveal to me my inner motivations and my desires to serve You and to serve all those You have placed around me. Rescue me from the push for gain, or the pang of guilt, or the call of glory. Give to me gladness, gratitude, and gifts to serve so that I can grow to be like Your Son, My Savior, My Lord. Amen.
Sunday, July 31
Hebrews 6:10— “God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.”
When it comes to serving God, many of us take the modern corporate “head hunter” approach. We highlight all the positives and try to belittle the negatives because we “need” someone to serve in the church. The truth is that serving the body of Christ is the absolute least that we can do when we see all that Christ has done for us. We are saved to serve others.
Hospitality is the word used a lot in the Bible to describe the kind of love and service God expects from us. This is showing kindness and goodness to those around you. The moment that we stop extending lovingkindness to others, we start to decay as Christians. The life of a Christian is to be others-focused. Each day we should ask, “Who can I show kindness to today?”. This is a no strings attached type of love. The world wants to “love” you to get something from you. God desires that we would sacrificially love and serve others to be a blessing, not for personal gain or the advancement of our own agenda. Who is it in your life that can you show kindness to today?
PRAYER:
God, thank you so much for the many blessings you have poured out on me. Out of all the riches of blessings that I have Lord help me to freely serve others. Help me to not be so busy and distracted to see opportunities to show kindness. When the time comes help me to share the goodness of the gospel through lovingkindness. Amen.
Monday, August 1
The Backwardness of Serving
Mark 10:43-45--”But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…”
Everything in our culture defies the mentality of serving. We are supposed to climb the professional and social ladders, not look for ways down. Upward mobility, individual achievement, accolades, and big parades are all the siren call of our world. Someone would only recommend otherwise if they had no connection to the way this world really works.
Exactly. He doesn’t. This “Son of Man” who came to serve and not be served.
He speaks of a different world, a different kingdom, a different value system, a different viewpoint, a different motivation, a different reward system. Something we somehow know we are not born into, but something we somehow know we were born for.
He’s calling us to live life differently. He’s calling us to live life upside down - from the bottom up and not the top down. To be the greatest in this world, focus on its values – power, possessions, prestige. In God’s kingdom, focus on His values instead – people. Love them. Serve them.
He went first becoming last. Now it’s our turn.
PRAYER:
God, give us the eyes and mind and values that You have and that You displayed in Christ. Help us block out the temptation of this world to be anything other than what You have called us to be for your glory and your kingdom in the world. Help us be holy, different, set apart – not in the little stuff, but in the things that really matter. Amen.
Tuesday, August 2
The Incarnation of Serving
Philippians 2:5-7 - “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
Throughout Christian history, there have always been “Christian ascetics,” those people who would draw away from the world into isolation, monasteries, etc., to avoid the temptations of the world as a means of developing holiness and the Scriptural call to God’s people to “come out from among them and be separate.”
While this may seem noble in some ways, it seems the better response to that call is to be “in the world, but not of the world.” Simply put, to be a “separate” people is not to separate from the world altogether, but to engage it full on in the power and glory of the incarnation.
Jesus engaged with the world. God so loved that He sent His son. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus “emptied Himself…taking the form of a servant.” Holiness is not forged so much in separation, but in incarnation – in the “fleshing out” of God’s work in the world, mirroring Christ’s example of servanthood.
Every time we empty ourselves to serve, we are expressing the glory of incarnation – God loving the world, engaging the world, revealing Himself to the world through those in the “form of a servant…born in the likeness of men.”
PRAYER:
Lord, my desire is to be holy, to be set apart for your purposes and Your glory in the world. Show me that I cannot become all that You have called me to be until, like Jesus, I am engaging the world, emptying myself, and serving others for the sake of the gospel and Your renown. Amen.
Wednesday, August 3
The Difficulty of Serving
Galatians 6:9—”And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
We need to get beyond the idea that serving others is doing nice things for them by giving a little of ourselves or of our time or resources. Serving others is sacrificial living. It costs us. A lot. Paul tells us above that it can become so wearisome we may just want to give up if we are doing it rightly.
It is tiring; it is inconvenient; it is often not pretty. It’s hard. As we saw yesterday, it’s incarnational; it’s “fleshy”; it’s real. It’s hands-on. And it is often not in the spotlight; it’s not recognized; it’s not appreciated or applauded. It is hidden. Sure, serving is easy when it fits our schedule or gives us the opportunity to do something we enjoy or think is important. But what about when it is hard and hand-ons and hidden?
You know, Lord, how I serve You
With great emotional fervor
In the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You
At the women's club.
You know how I effervesce when I
Promote a fellowship group.
You know my genuine enthusiasm
At the Bible study.
But how would I react, I wonder
If You pointed to a basin of water
And asked me to wash the calloused feet
Of a bent and wrinkled old woman
Day after day
Month after month
In a room where nobody saw
And nobody knew.
(Author unknown)
PRAYER:
Father, teach me what true servanthood looks like and forgive me for boxing it into my schedule, my desires, and my convenience. Help me see the opportunity to serve for your glory. Help me to respond and not grow weary in doing good. Amen.
Thursday, August 4
The Call to Serve
1 Peter 4:10-11—“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
All Christians – without exception – are called to servanthood. Not just serving in this position or that position on any given Sunday, but to a true life of servanthood. This is a life, a mentality, a value system of looking out for the interests of others (Phil 2:4), giving preference to one another (Rom. 12:10), of denying one’s self (Luke 9:23). It is a constant character of humility and surrender and love.
Too often we are guilty of “getting saved” to secure a spot in heaven or escape a place in hell with almost no thought to the demand and cost of truly being a disciple of Christ. But Hebrews 9:14 tells us the blood of Christ that has cleansed us, that is the purchase price of our salvation, works also to “purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” We are not saved for us, but for God’s purposes. We are saved to serve; and He has made it clear that to serve Him is to serve others as Christ has already served us.
We are called to serve – not just by doing the “family chores” at church to make Sunday morning happen. That is good work and necessary for the church to operate, but a life characterized by a servant mentality extends far beyond that to a sacrificial giving of ourselves “that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
PRAYER:
God, show me how to serve you – truly serve you by serving others. Help me not cling to what things I already do or to think those are sufficient, but to continually see that I am called beyond moments of servanthood to a character of servanthood, just as Christ has demonstrated for me. Thank you for saving me, for loving me, and for the privilege to return service to You for all You have done for me. Amen.
Friday, August 5
The Freedom of Service
Galatians 5:13--“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
We are called to freedom in Christ. For many, freedom is the privilege to act as one wants for one’s purposes without restraint. For Christians, however, freedom is the opportunity to choose to act God for God’s glory through a self-disciplined, Spirit-empowered life.
Elton Trueblood says it this way:
“We have not advanced very far in our spiritual lives if we have not encountered the basic paradox of freedom…that we are most free when we are most bound. But not just any way of being bound will suffice; what matters most is the character of our binding. The one who would be an athlete, but who is unwilling to discipline his body by regular exercise and abstinence is not free to excel on the field or on the track. His failure to train rigorously denies him the freedom to run with the desired speed and endurance.”
So the discipline of service, as with all spiritual disciplines, frees us to the very purpose for which we were created. It frees us to excel at those things which deepen our knowledge of God, that further our walk with God, that display the glory of God, that define the people of God, that ushers in the kingdom of God. But we are not free to fulfill our purpose without the discipline He desires – the denial of self, the surrender to His purposes, the rejection of the world’s values. The freedom to not indulge our flesh, but to serve one another in love. Serving others as service to God is not bondage; it is the true realization of freedom in Christ – the freedom to which we were called.
PRAYER:
Father, I am so thankful for the freedom you have given me in Christ. Freedom not to indulge myself, but to finally serve not as an expression of fear or guilt but of love and gratefulness for all You have done for me. Teach me to use my freedom well, for Your purposes. Amen.
Saturday, August 6
The Motivations of Serving
John 13:14-17—”If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
Motivation is a curious thing. It’s complex. It’s hard to definitively know, even within our own selves. So why do we serve? We all know a good action can have bad or wrong-headed motivations, so we need to always be on guard about our reasons for serving.
It seems that three bad ones are evident: gain, guilt, and glory. Do we serve to get status or power or worldly reward? Do we serve because we feel guilty before God and are trying to win His approval or feel guilty for our advantages in life as compared with other people? Do we serve to manipulate results and win applause or recognition or the approval of others?
Christ calls us to greater things. Not motivated by gain, guilt, and glory, but gladness (Psalm 100:2), gratitude (1 Samuel 12:24), and giftedness (1 Peter 4:10).
Finally, there is the motivation of growth that it produces in us. In the passage above, Jesus washed feet, giving us an example to follow. We should do as he has done for He is showing us the way to become more like Him. We cannot expect to escape this demand on our lifestyle, for we are Jesus’ pupils, His learners, His disciples. But when we embrace it, we are recipients of His blessing.
PRAYER:
Father, search me and know my heart. Reveal to me my inner motivations and my desires to serve You and to serve all those You have placed around me. Rescue me from the push for gain, or the pang of guilt, or the call of glory. Give to me gladness, gratitude, and gifts to serve so that I can grow to be like Your Son, My Savior, My Lord. Amen.
