Impact through Serving
Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to meet my sweet momma’s youth pastor that she had all throughout high school. Our family spent hours sitting at the dinner table reminiscing and talking about so much. Many things stood out to me in those conversations but the one I am going to write about today is: SERVING.
That night, I heard all kinds of stories. Even the ones about my mom in high school. But, the story I want to recall is one that is so simple but has impacted me ever since hearing it.
It was at church, probably a Wednesday night, when there was a student who was asking the youth pastor if he would allow him to preach. He kept nagging about when his time to speak would be. He was extremely persistent and just would not give up the idea of speaking to the youth group. My mom’s youth pastor at the time, who let me tell you, wins the award for all-time best youth pastor. He said to the student, while looking at a room with chairs needing to be stacked, “You can preach once you stack up all those chairs.” The kid pushed back on the idea and didn’t understand why he was being told to do this. He responded saying, “Why do you want me to stack these chairs? What good will it do?” The youth pastor replied, “If you are not able to serve down here, by stacking these chairs, then you shouldn’t even begin to think about preaching.” The youth pastor continued, “You have just as much of an impact serving right here as you would speaking up there.”
While sitting listening to this story, I was taken back in awe. I was reminded of how vital serving is in our walk with Jesus. Matthew 23:11 (TPT) says, “The greatest among you will be the one who always serves others.” I don’t know about you but serving others can truly test me at times. I frequently find myself asking Jesus for strength to show His love to His people. Through many experiences and much prayer, the Lord has shown me a lot of amazing things about serving.
Serving is a great way to express your love for Jesus. You can grow through serving in immense ways. Serving strengthens you. You should feel a sense of fulfillment after serving. Serving is a result of love. You are expressing love whenever you serve. You should find yourself serving with a loving heart. Serving can bring you true joy. You should find yourself enriched in excitement by helping God’s people.
Take a moment to consider a time where you were at your lowest. Now, think about a person God brought alongside you and showed you love through serving. Maybe it was someone praying for you, saving you a seat at church, or simply just being there. That person loved Jesus and expressed it in a way that resulted with serving. I’m sure that person made some sort of impact on you. I can promise you, through serving, you too can impact countless others.
Reflection Questions:
When was the last time you embraced the gift of serving?
Do you believe that you can impact lives through serving? (Spoiler alert: you can.)
Challenges:
I challenge you to find different ways to serve each day.
I challenge you to pray for an abundant desire in your heart to serve.
