What does it mean to be called to serve? I used to think that being called to serve meant identifying a specific group or demographic who were struggling and then organizing or joining a service project to address a specific need. This could be anything from helping out in an understaffed school to helping a community rebuild after a natural disaster. As Christians we can begin to think with a “service on”, “service off” mentality without even realizing it. We start to look at service or ministry as something that we sign up for and then carry out at a set time, in a set place, to a set group of people that we choose.
I don’t think this is what Jesus meant when he taught us how to serve.
Jesus was always “service on”, from washing the feet of his closest friends (even the one he knew would betray him) to pausing to spend time with the lonely woman at the well. He modeled what service looks like and it is not something we turn on and off but something that flows out of us and is just a part of who we are.
While it is great to sign up for a mission trip and go share love overseas, we need to make sure we are also serving and loving the people directly in front of us. Living in community with my fellow squad mates I can clearly observe myself gearing up my energy and enthusiasm to get to know the new people I meet in each country but then failing to have that same energy and enthusiasm for the squad mate sitting right next to me at dinner. How can I be SOOOO interested in the life and thoughts of the people I deem “service worthy” and then not have that same interest for the people on my very own squad? It strikes me as insincere but we have all done this at one time or another.
As Christians we do not decide who we will or will not serve. We signed up to follow Christ, we no longer choose, “service on”, “service off”…It’s only one setting now, “service on.” That means service extends to everyone, not just the subsistence farmers in Albania or the orphans in Africa. It means your literal neighbor, your co-worker, the person you can’t carry on a conversation with, the cashier at the store, your siblings, your parents.
It is so easy to glorify certain acts of service over others but taking the time to listen to someone who is hurting and needs a listening ear is equally as valid as volunteering at the soup kitchen. It is wonderful that there are planned, intentional service projects for Christians as long as we are growing to a place where loving and serving isn’t just something we sign up for from time to time but it is literally who we are. I never want someone in my life to feel that I am neglecting them while I am busy focusing on who I deem “service worthy”. My goal for this year is that my attitude and willingness to serve will never be limited to a mission trip.
