Day 8 of 31 Days, Service

Why do we not service one another?

Can we see the homeless person and only feel their pain if we have been homeless?

Can we see the mother struggling through the store with three small kids and feel her exhaustion only if we have been there?

Can we notice the confused/lost older lady and feel compassion for her forgetfulness and lack of understanding only if we have been there?

I think NOT!

It helps to have gone through the same things that someone else has and there is a wisdom that having walked that path brings.  But there are plenty of people who have been through things and never look back to help others.  So, I ask again, why don’t we serve others?

I have a feeling that it comes most of the time from a brokenness inside of us.  A lie we continue to believe.  We choose to believe that we are not fully and extravagantly loved and so we have nothing left to give.  I am talking about a heart belief here not a head belief.  The type of heart belief that causes you to continually need to eat too much, buy too much, date the wrong guy, pick the wrong friends, hide in social settings, or need to always be the center of attention.  The type of belief that has become so much a part of who you are that you do not even recognize it as wrong.  This lie stops us from understanding God’s full and complete love for us.  That we are His chosen creation, His daughter that he heaps gifts onto out of His adoration for us.  His favored child.  Until we are full aware of that love He has for us we are left with a gapping hole that we are constantly trying to fill.  Which leaves no room for overflow to spill over to others.  If we are not actively loving others I think we have to stop and ask ourselves what area am I still empty of God in.  Where are you still holding onto words or actions from your past that are keeping you from being whole today?  What man means for harm, God means for profit.  Bring those hurts and disappointments to Him, find healing in Him, know His extravagant love in a way that is so overwhelming that it can’t help but flow out of you onto others.  You will not be able to stop yourself from naturally serving in your daily life because you are whole and you want that so desperately for everyone you come into contact with.

I desperately want that for each of you.  Please let me know if there is an area I can pray for you.