i'm in the service industry...

Last night at our weekly S.A.L.T. meeting we had Scott Pitsch, my favorite professor, come in and speak to us about leadership and what the Bible has to say about it. We read together the passage in John 15:14-15: "You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Scott helped me look at this verse differently. A master simply says to his servants, "Go and do this," and the servant just goes. Friends say to each other, "Hey, I am thinking about doing this. Let's do this together." Jesus is not looking for slave labor because he doesn't need it. God is omnipotent; he can do anything. But he desires us to help him. He's looking for friends and partners who will trust him to serve them.

There will be days when I don't feel like serving: when I just don't feel like loving the unloved, when I am just tired, when I am just not in the mood, etc... It's really on these days, when I am not allowing God to serve me by empowering me with the mercy, compassion and strength I need to serve others in return. He serves me as I serve others. I had never thought about this this way. It makes it a little easier to know that God - the king of the universe, the very one who made me fearfully and wonderfully, the very one who made the people he has called me to serve - is serving me. I need to allow him to serve me! What a beautiful picture that is for me.

Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." I have always read this verse for what it says, "Yeah, I can do that if God gives me the strength." There's more to it than that I am learning. I CAN do it; I can give my self permission to do things because God gives me the strength.

I am being fulfilled in ways I never thought existed. It seems everything I do brings me a measure of fulfillment and joy. Evidence that I have been letting God serve me without really knowing it? Yeah, I think so. Now that I think about it, I can feel him, can feel the power of his love for me and for his people being poured into me as I serve others. He's a waiter that constantly stands behind me filling my water glass everytime I take a drink. I always have a sufficient supply, never dry, never too much. Perfect love in perfect measure. It's just perfect!