"God,... You 1st, Others 2nd & Me 3rd. I'm Called To Serve"

O My LORD,

Forgive me for serving thee in sinful ways-

   by glorying in my own strength,

   by forcing myself to minister through

    necessity,

by accepting the applause of others,

by trusting in assumed grace

  and spiritual affection,

by a faith that rests upon my hold on Christ,

  not on him alone,

by having another foundation to stand upon

  beside thee;

   for thus I make flesh my arm.

Help me to see

   that it is faith stirred by grace that does the deed,

   that faith brings a man nearer to thee,

    raising him above mere man,

   that thou dost act upon the soul

    when thus elevated and lifted out of itself,

   that faith centres in thee as God all-sufficient,

    Father, Son, Holy Spirit,

    as God efficient,

    mediately, as in thy commands and promises,

    immediately, in all the hidden power

     that faith sees and knows to be in thee,

   abundantly, with omnipotent effect,

    in the revelation of thy will.

If I have not such faith I am nothing.

It is my duty to set thee above all others

   in mind and eye;

But it is my sin that I place myself above thee.

Lord, it is the special evil of sin

   that every breach of thy law arises

    from contempt of thy Person,

    from despising thee and thy glory,

    from preferring things before thee.

Help me to abhor myself in comparison of thee,

And keep me in a faith that works by love,

    and serves by grace.  

VAIN SERVICE  The Valley of Vision; Puritan Prayers and Devotions

"When I view my relationships as an opportunity to serve, God moves through me and my relationships", My pastor stated after he charged us to pray for our homes and families.

Last week he had declared, "God 1st- Me 2nd".  This week he made a correction to his previous statement by emphasizing that we should think most of God, and more of others than ourselves.

What satisfies us the most?  We are perpetually selfish individuals who place unreasonable expectations on creatures rather than our Creator and in so doing we impose unjust requirements on those that we say we love.

"If I see my relationships as a means to my happiness, I will surely be disappointed."  

He likened our attempt to make our relationships with created beings, where we primarily expect to find joy and fulfillment, like building our house on the beach where erosion will quickly and most assuredly carry away anything that was built on the shifting sands.

"If we hear God and it doesn't change us, the way we live, act and treat others, we are building our lives on the sand.  When we view relationships as something to make us happy they can't bear up under the weight of that.  They cannot bring fulfillment or make us whole.  If we see relationships as a means of serving others we will find fulfillment."

In essence, he was saying that our relationships with others are not able to stand under the storms of life but only our relationship with Jesus can weather the storms.

The storms of life come regardless of how and where we build our house.  

So how do we avoid building our lives on the shifting sands of relationships with others?  We pray and listen to God and then approach our relationships like Christ so efficaciously displayed to us!

Matthew 20:28

For even the Son of man came not to be served 

but to serve and to give his life 

as a ransom for many.  

When we prefer others over ourselves we are obeying His word.

Philippians 2:3-8

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, 

but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  

Let each one of you look not only to his own interests, 

but also to the interests of others.  

Have this mind among yourselves, this is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, 

did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, 

being born in the likeness of men.  

And being found in human form, 

he humbled himself by becoming obedient 

to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus, through his word has given us innumerable instances of human servanthood toward others.  His primary ministry was serving others.  He was the lamb who was slain.  He gave up his will and his way for the will of the Father for us!  

If it hadn't been for Jesus' final act of service to a lost and dying world, our relationship with the Father would be nonexistent!   Our relationships with others would be hopeless as well.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.   

1 John 3:16-18 says it perfectly!

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, 

and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.    

But if anyone has the world's goods 

and sees his brother in need, 

yet closes his heart against him, 

how does God's love abide in him?  

Little children, 

let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.  

We have a great opportunity as we place God on the throne of our hearts, continually ejecting ourselves, we can show forth His love to others by serving them, especially when it taps into our selfish wants and desires for our time, money and talents.  

When we keep God 1st, we are kept stable through the torrents of life 

on the rock of our faith that works by love 

and serves by grace.