LS023b - Your Reasonable Service II - For the Honour of God

Hello everybody!

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this two part series on service and how it's not as nasty as it's often perceived sometimes.

Onto part two...

Still Your Reasonable Service

Let's come back the verse that started all of this from Romans 12: -

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

This time, I want to take a look at the word reasonable and first off, a definition: -

Reasonable - as much as is appropriate or fair; moderate.

Again, I can't argue with the definition text from Google!

In the context of the above verse, this word according to Strongs comes from the Greek word "logikos", which is defined as rational or logical (surprise, surprise!).

So if we put these two pieces together, let me try and encapsulate service in a far more healthier light for you: -

If you ascribe to the idea of service and your fellow man, you will begin to see just how logical and how rational it is to be submissive to God as He works His will out through you and through everyone else around you.

Is that making sense?

Service is no longer something to be feared, but embraced. For as the love of the Father works through you, miracles start to happen and people start to see your behaviour and "praise your Father in Heaven" just like Matthew 5:16 says. As we let the light of God shine through us, people will see what He can do through us and, hopefully, begin to want the same for themselves.

God changes lives.

God breaks addictions.

God sets captives free.

If God's light can do those three things, as examples though He is capable of much, much more, then don't you want to see what He can do through you?

Service - Just a Reasonable Thing

So if we are agreed that service is both reasonable, rational and logical then are we now saying that it is not scary? Not at all.

I remember once, last Easter, when I was in a choir performing to an audience of several hundred people for an Easter service. Let me tell you that was a scary experience as I knew the service was being livestreamed too!

But what did I do? I fixed my eyes on my vertical beam of faith and recognised that it is because of this vertical beam I have with God that caused me to join the church singers and earn my place on the choir.

The reality of service, is that as we respond to these requests as they are placed in front of us, the more that we can learn to say "yes" to them as well as "no". It's not about being a doormat and bending over backwards to help your fellow man or woman, it's about learning to see each and every individual opportunity as the potential for God to work a miracle for someone else through you.

The more you can say "yes" and "no" to these requests of service, the more you will start to realise that people will begin to see you as someone who fast becomes a woman, or a man, of your word. They will appreciate that. Some won't, but you have to remember the words of John Lydgate made famous by Abraham Lincoln: -

“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

Live to Please God

I'm going to revisit a verse that I quoted last time now in Matthew 5:16: -

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.

As you begin to let God's light shine through you by your words and actions towards others, the more they will begin to see just what an unbiased Kingdom looks like. In doing that they will be transitioned into a place where, hopefully, they too can begin to praise God for themselves.

I try, every day, to remind myself that I'm not living for my own needs all the time and that if I'm put in a situation that calls upon my giftings then I will try to make use of the opportunity. Doing this allows you to see what God can do through you and in seeing what He can do through you, you will begin to see just what He has made you truly capable of; all for His honour's sake!

If I'm not living to glorify God, I'm living to glorify an idol because anything that I follow after that is not God, is an idol, plain and simple. Therefore, in cultivating an attitude of service in my daily living, I begin to recognise that there are multiple opportunities to serve those around me, it doesn't have to be always on a Sunday at a church service; it can be any day of the week!

Final Thought

Let's together commit to cultivating within ourselves that dependence upon God so that the more that we begin to see that He can do through us, the more open that we will be to potential opportunities to look out for somebody else in a difficult situation.

Hold that door open next time you see someone struggle.

Smile next time you see someone that could do with a reminder that life isn't all bad.

Spend that money that you were going to use to buy a coffee to buy a gift for someone you know cannot pay you back.

In feeding generosity, we will begin to see it reciprocated as people see us and realise that the unbiased Kingdom that we represent is responsible for a whole lot more than we ever realise in this life.

Let's do this!

===TLP===