Service

Service

Service means taking action or providing a good to those who need it. The one who serves may get paid - like the waiter who serves diners in a restaurant, or the mechanic who fixes a car. Service may also be voluntary, as when civic clubs perform different kinds of community service.

The presumption in delivering a service is that the recipient is unable or unwilling to perform the act or provide the good for himself. You ask for plumbing service when you don’t know how to deal with your home water system. You go to the restaurant when you don’t want to do the cooking, and the serving, yourself.  When you do something for somebody who is perfectly able to do the same thing for themselves, you may actually be doing them a dis-service.

What makes a Christian’s service distinctive? It is not the specific act or good that Christians provide, but the reason they perform the service and the spirit in which they do it. Christian service is driven by love for God, and subsequently love for fellow man. It is based on a devotion to Jesus’ teaching of love - of seeking the good of the other. If it is based on love, it is also delivered with with a loving attitude - although sometimes it might not seem so to the recipient (such as “tough love” discipline for a child).

When you plan to serve, be clear about your motives. Service is not always easy or comfortable. Sometimes service can demand more than you expect. When this happens, you will want to remember why you got into it in the first place.

How do you want to serve? Why do you want to serve?