Serving for Love

Anyone who seeks to be a servant of Christ must make sure their eyes stay on Jesus.  When someone speaks of serving Christ because the need is so great, they are at the edge of succumbing to a very subtle temptation.  The real motive for serving a suffering humanity can never be the needs of humanity, but it always must be the love we have for Christ.  If the need fills our vision and becomes our motive, we will surely run out of energy to serve, we are opening ourselves up to a frustration which is likely to lead to quitting and a bitterness that no one else is helping us in what is such a great need.   

Those who are motivated by the need have their eyes fixed on the wrong thing.  The servant of Jesus must always have their eyes fixed on Jesus.  What is done is done not to meet the needs of men and women, though this may happen, but to express our love for Jesus.  The question "Why am I serving?" is always an important question for the follower of Jesus.  If we do it because the need around is so great, we will become weary and walk away.  If we do it because of our love for Jesus, we will be able to serve without quitting exhaustion.  

To serve without keeping our eyes of Jesus and our love for Him is to open our hearts up to a service which is about obligation and duty instead of love. It is clear as we study the Sermon on the Mount that it is not enough to do the good thing.  What is in our heart is what really matters.  Our doing can be an empty act of service if we do not carry the love of Christ in our hearts.  Though our service may bring us many accolades from those around us, without it being done as an expression of our love for Christ, we can end up like the noisy gong and clanging symbol.  (I Corinthians 13:1)