Contemplating his life and his circumstances before he stands before the emperor of Rome and perhaps faces death, Paul says, that if he keeps on living, it is Christ living through him. If He dies, then he has great gain in eternal life. Paul is not sure which one he wants when he writes these thoughts. He knows being with Christ is way better, but if he is going to remain alive, it would be fine because he would be able to continue to serve the Lord and the church (Philippians 1:21-23).
I hope we never get tired of opportunities to live and serve the church. I hope we never get tired of being asked to serve. I hope every time we are asked to show up, roll up our sleeves, and work on a project, event, or service that, we consider it as an opportunity to serve the Lord. I hope that when we are asked to do something for the Lord and His church, we actually consider it and are willing to sacrifice our time and energy to make it the very best we can. For us to live is Christ! For us to serve is Christ. The point is this: If you are alive in Christ, then you should be serving Christ.
Do you have other things you could do? Sure you do. We ALL do. Are you tired? Sure you are. We ALL are. Do you have scheduling conflicts and adjustments to make? Sure you do. We ALL do. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. Whatever the case, I would encourage you to sacrifice more, give more, and work harder to serve the Lord and His Kingdom. The reason is so simple. Serving is good for us.
We are alive today for the sole purpose of serving the Lord and His church. However, the distractions of the world influence us, and we get our priorities out of wack. We fill our schedules up with all kinds of other things, and some are worthy, some are not. Some are a waste of time. When we have the opportunity to serve, let’s give it all we got. When there is an opportunity for you to grow, learn, serve, work, encourage, worship, train, grow, take advantage of it because it is a way for you to serve the Lord in your life.
Let’s try this… Instead of me asking you to serve, you ask me how you can serve.
I love you,
Alex