Serving is at the heart of our Christian faith.  While no one of Jesus’ day or ours would deny that life is about serving God, Jesus pushed the envelope in a radical way.  He suggested that this included serving others.  Jesus spoke to the issue when he acknowledged that he came “not to be served, but to serve” and that we, as his followers, must find greatness in serving rather than in placing ourselves ‘over’ others (Matthew 20:25-28).  So often, however, we make distinctions between serving God and serving others.  It seems that this was the wrong turn the religious elite of Jesus day had taken.  They had made such a division, and wound up serving neither.  Jesus brought these back together, restoring them to their rightful unity.  We serve God BY serving others, his life and message seemed to be saying.  This is a liberating and encouraging perspective to take in our caring for one another.  It’s the path Jesus’ followers took.  So important are we to God and thus, so important is our serving one another, that God is honored and delighted as we do so.  Our serving one another IS identical to serving God as we do so in the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.  It’s why Paul could write to the early church in Rome about the one who understood this that, “the one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval!” (Romans 14:17-19).   We serve, not with divided hearts, but  ‘enlarged’ hearts:  serving God and others in all that we do!

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