For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
"Serving Others"
There’s a gentlemen who lives in my neighborhood who is a well-known Christian leader. He leads a ministry of thousands and oversees a multi-million dollar budget. His influence on the lives of others is remarkable and the sheer number of people he’s had an impact upon would be difficult to count.
He has faithfully served the Lord for decades and shared the gospel throughout the world and, for this, I have great respect for him. But one of the things that I admire most is that while he goes for his daily morning walk in our neighborhood, he often picks up trash along the road and sidewalks in our community. No one has asked him to do this and he certainly isn’t getting paid to do it. In fact, as a very busy person with important responsibilities, some might argue that it’s not a good stewardship of his time to be picking up discarded fast food wrappers, half-consumed soda cans and forgotten scraps of paper that are the result of the carelessness of others.
But as one who seems to have a good understanding of why “Jesus came to serve and not be served,” I think he offers a good example for each of us. I would imagine there are a number of people in our neighborhood who recognize him as “that guy who picks up trash” and don’t know anything else about him. But I’m also guessing that his willingness to humbly serve our neighbors through this oft-unrecognized service opens doors for him to share about the One who not only served, but “gave his life as a ransom for many.”
We each have the opportunity to serve others in our community. Whether it’s picking up trash in our neighborhood, volunteering at a local school, serving with a local ministry that cares for the under resourced or joining a once/month team at LBC, we can model God’s love for others through the way we serve them. It might cost us a little time and possibly a little sweat, but the eternal difference our service can make is worth it.
How to pray...
- Pray for God to develop a humble heart of service within you.
- Pray for all of the faithful volunteers who serve LBC each and every week. Pray for their energy, strength and steadfastness.
- Pray for gospel-inspired service to be part of the culture of our church, and for volunteer teams to be at full strength as we anticipate the excitement of the fall ministry season.
- Pray that the members of LBC would be known by others in our community as people who willingly and joyfully serve others.
For the Family
There is excitement in the air as this is the time that school is starting back! Some children are about to begin their school journey and others are another year along in the process. How special it is that the same week that children are going back to school, we are seeking the Lord about serving others!
Carve out a little time to talk with your kids about ways that they can serve the Lord through serving others at school. Ideas might include opening doors, playing with a new friend at recess, helping your teacher clean up a mess in the room, looking for new students and introducing yourself. Sometimes just talking through ideas helps train our eyes and ears to be sensitive when events happen in our daily life when we can take a moment to extend grace to others!
As the busyness of the year kicks in, you may want to think ahead of creative times you could have these types of meaningful conversations and touchpoints with your kids —driving in the car, during a meal, while you are cleaning up at the end of the day, or while giving them a bath, trimming their nails or brushing their hair! Little moments of connection can be so meaningful and special!
Contributors
"Serving Others" - Scott Crocker
Scott Crocker is the Chief of Staff for Ethnic Field Ministry, a ministry of Cru committed to seeing spiritual movements launched among ethnic minority students and faculty throughout the world. His family attends Lake Baldwin Church, where Scott serves as a deacon and leads the church’s mercy ministry to those in need. In his free time, he is a diehard fan of the Michigan Wolverines & Detroit Tigers and has coached youth basketball and football since high school. An avid reader, he particularly enjoys biographies and books about culture and American history. Scott and his wife, Lori, have four children and live in Orlando, Florida
"For the Family" - Michelle Crouse
Michelle Crouse has served as the director of LBC's children's ministry—SPLASH Kids—since the end of 2011. She and her husband Joshua were married in 2002 and have 2 children. Michelle grew up outside of Boston and graduated from James Madison University in Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She loves being with kids and loves the opportunity to be a part of teaching children how much they are loved by God, and helping them grow in their understanding of what that means.