Everybody Serves Something

Everybody Serves Something by Devin Narvaez

Romans 6: 16 --Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Reading through the New Testament, it seems that the Bible’s favorite word for a Christian is “servant”. Biblical heroes like Paul, Peter, James, John, are referred to as servants. In fact, even our Lord Jesus himself claimed the same title, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” (Mark 10:45) Being a servant puts one in good company to say the least.

However to be a servant, you must have a master. Paul writes in the book of Romans that we are slaves to the things that we follow or obey. As young men and women, there are innumerable things that are constantly fighting for our attention and obedience. Some of these things are more easily exposed as immoral, yet the ones that are the most dangerous are those that masquerade as worthy of obedience. It can be easy to fall into the trap of serving our desires for acceptance, safety, pleasure etc, but we must remain vigilant and remember that none of those desires can produce anything close to the joy of serving Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus is the only Master worth serving not only because He is the exact imprint of the nature of God (Heb 1:3), and not only because He created and maintains all things (Col. 1:16-17), but because He was the only one able to ransom us from a debt far beyond our means could ever reach. Our bodies and lives were paid for by Jesus at the cost of His own. He was willing to pay because He loves us. A love so magnificent demands a response; Jesus died for you, but will you live for Him?

Every man and woman have posed before them two questions that never fail to be relevant, no matter the context. “Why do you do the things you do?” and “Who do you do them for?” The first question is a question of motive. Even the most righteous of deeds will quickly become powerless when done with the wrong motive in heart. The second question is a question of lordship. Who is really being served by your actions? So many in this world come to Jesus for the savior that He is, but Jesus cannot be our savior if He is not our lord.

So I encourage you, bring your motives and thoughts before the Lord so that He may check them and clean them, for no one else can give you a clean heart besides the Lord. Further, I urge you to prayerfully consider who is truly being served by your day to day actions. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what is displeasing to Him and must be corrected.

CONVICTION

Why do you do the things you do? Who do you do them for?

PRACTICAL CHALLENGE

Meet with your small group leader or a Godly mentor in your life and outline your weekly schedule. You can even get as detailed as to write down hour by hour. Honestly discuss together the motives that are behind each scheduled plan, and consider who is being served. Does what you are spending time on reflect what and Whom you value?