How Did We Serve You?
By Lisa Boyer
“…fear the Lord your
God, to walk in obedience to Him, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul”
Deuteronomy
10:12 (NIV)
We’ve recently implemented a new customer service initiative at
work. Every email sent out automatically has “How did we serve you?” added to
the bottom. Clicking on the question takes you to a survey where you rate how
we served you. The goal is that we achieve a rating of 4.5 out of 5 or better.
So the “How did we serve you?” question has weighed heavily on our minds.
One day, while I was pondering the “How did we serve you?”
initiative, a different question popped into my mind and I found myself asking
God…“How did I serve You?” While I have served in almost every ministry
available at church, the heart of the question wasn’t about what I had done for
Him. It was about how I had done it. Had I represented Him well?
Shortly after I began thinking about how I serve God, a mom of a
girl that had been in my Sunday school class a few years ago casually mentioned
that her daughter thought I was mean. Of course, I assumed it was because I had
tried to make her daughter behave in class, but this mom shared with me that it
was because of something I had said to her daughter when she walked into class one
Sunday morning. The mom had heard what I’d said, so I asked her if she agreed.
She said, “Yes.”
Wow. Clearly, I had not served God well that morning in Sunday School.
I should have greeted her joyfully and reflected the love of Jesus; I was
grieved by what I had done. My new question became “How will I serve You?” And there
was only one correct answer. The next time I saw the girl and her mom at church,
I confessed that I’d failed to show Jesus’ love that morning. And then I apologized.
I wish I could say that I have perfected the art of serving God
since then. But in truth, this has just reinforced how very dependent I am on
His Holy Spirit in me, in order to serve Him well. In grace, I look back on
that experience as a reminder: It can be too easy to get caught up in the act
of serving God and forget that oh-so-important piece of how we serve Him. My heart’s
prayer this morning? Lord, how will I
serve you today?
GOING DEEPER:
1.
How about you: How have you
served Him?
2.
While thinking of how you’ve served Him, did He bring something to mind
that you need to do or change in order to serve Him better?
FURTHER READING:
Lisa is married to Ted and they have
two adult sons. Lisa serves on a Sunday morning Welcoming Team at Oakwood.
