“And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”” Mark 12:30-31 (NLT)
We Can Use What We Have To Serve Others
I mentioned previously in the post about taking steps of incremental obedience (as opposed to “leaps of faith”) that I was reading the devotional plan “How to Neighbor” by Pastor Craig Groeschel from Life.Church on the YouVersion Bible app. I started the plan because it goes along nicely with my current studies of serving others. One of the things I’m learning is that some of the steps we need to take in serving others is to use what we have at our disposal. We don’t need to wait until we have what we THINK we need. We first need to step out and start serving where we can.
My church is preparing for “Love Day” which is part of a National Serve Day in which over 275 churches across the globe are taking part. As part of our preparation my church small group is reading through and doing a study on Dino Rizzo’s book, Servolution. So far it’s a great book and an easy read with excellent anecdotal stories! It really will get you excited about following Jesus’ example and instructions of serving others, as does the “How to Neighbor” plan and sermon series. Both give some really good, practical ideas for serving. You know me…I love practical steps! 😉 I’ve already stepped out and tried a few of the ideas myself!
Use what we have in order to serve…like the Good Samaritan
In part of our study of the book, we read through the story of the Good Samaritan. Here’s the story…
“Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”” Luke 10:30-37 (NLT)
