Often the Lord allows us to experience a time when we express personal need and no one responds. With our last baby, who eventually weighed in, rather come-lately, at 10 lbs. 15 oz., I was so physically miserable I couldn’t manage attending church for the last three months of the pregnancy. (My own mother said I was the largest pregnant woman she had ever seen!)
During this time only one person called to inquire as to how I was feeling. And, no one offered to help me with cleaning chores or with my rambunctious three-year-old. It is true that we were just learning how to be servants to one another at the church, rather than simply knowing how to serve one another. But more importantly, the Lord wanted me to examine how often I had failed to serve someone else’s need. The question was asked, and I began a spiritual soul-searching, in the quiet of this vacuum, which resulted in deep and lasting changes.
How important it is to develop initiating attitudes of love which ask, “How can I serve?” rather than those gnawing feelings of wanting always to be served by others. In the body of Christ which has truly learned to serve, we find healing for the emotional fragmentation life often delivers to us. Then there comes the days when we discover that part of being a servant is allowing others to minister to us.
Life Response
Explore your abilities in that “foot-washing” kind of service for the body of Christ by answering the following questions:
- Are you ever available for the menial sorts of tasks, or are you forever taking front and center stage?
- Are you ever filled with joy because people don’t know it was you who brought love in a special way, or set up the church financial records in that impeccable manner?
- Think about that one with whom you always seem to have personality clashes. Have you ever attempted to find ways to serve him or her?
- What is your attitude when you walk into a room full of people? Are you concerned mostly with what is going to be done for you or what you are going to do for them?
- If someone asked you how he or she could serve you, would you have ideas to share? Or, would you rob the person of an opportunity to model Christ’s role of servant toward you?
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Karen Mains has long had an interest in Christian hospitality and is the author of the best-selling book, Open Heart, Open Home.
An award-winning author of several other books, Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.
For decades, Karen Mains and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. The are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and churches at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.
In addition, pastors will find special resources to help them create effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.
Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.
