Service

Before we say "goodnight", The Shan and I take about 5-10 minutes to do a devotional for couples. The one for last night was on living by a "non-negotiable list" and praying on how to apply each one. This is the list posted on the devotional:

1. Seek God, not sin.

2. Fear God, not man.

3. Love God, not the world.

4. Believe God, not the deceiver.

5. Obey God, not your appetites.

6. Serve God, not self.

7. Worship God, not comfort.

I haven't blogged in several days because it seems that the "volunteer bus" ran slam over me!!! Soooo, when I read this last night, the one that slapped me in the face the most was #6 -Serve God, not self.

I love volunteering and helping others, BUT-----I feel like sometimes when I sign up to "help", I'm not really serving God or others. I say yes to the task because I worry that I will hurt someone's feelings or they will think ill of me if I say no. So, ultimately I am serving myself and trying to justify myself!

When I agree to voulnteer, I quickly forget all the strain it puts on the other aspects of my life; scheduled meetings which take me away from my family, busy-work during the day which causes me to neglect my home and spend less time with my children. I wind up feeling out-of-sorts, guilty, and not so justified, afterall. And all of this because I didn't want to let someone down (...which in a nutshell, is where I am and how I've been for a couple of months now.)

Don't get me wrong! I LOVE a good cause, contributing to my church, and lending a helping hand to my children's school, but none of those things really justify or define who I am in God's sight. I am not justified or serving God at all just because my daily agenda is maxed. It only means I'm over-committed from trying to serve myself and have others justify me.

I have been thinking a lot recently about what defines me and how I am justified. And really, I should look no further for justification than our Lord! I am quite good enough for Him and that is what truly matters. Nothing else should matter. I am now commited to only serving others when I feel I am also serving God. I have no intentions to put all my current commitments to rest. I will gladly finish all that I have started. I will continue to participate in the ones that don't leave me to be justified by someone/thing else. However, in the future, I will NOT say yes immediately, nor will I justify myself by being the girl who always says "yes" and I will only "serve" if it means I'll be serving God!

Practical Tip- (see #6 list above)
Practically Put- But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.
-Joshua 24:15

Practically Yours,