“What can I do for you God?”

John 3:16 says that “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”God demonstrated His love for us by giving us His son as a seed that brought forth salvation and a harvest of new believers into the family of God. As a result, 1 John 3:16 reminds us that “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

Many of us (especially in the third world) have adopted a dependency mentality – whereby we tend to think that receiving is better than giving. Even in our service to God. We don’t want to sacrifice ourselves for others.

One story is told in the bible (Matthew 8:18-20) of a teacher of the law, who after Jesus had just given orders to cross to the other side of the lake came to tell Jesus how he will follow Him anywhere He will go! However Jesus Christ, somehow, started talking about Foxes... “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Because He knew His heart: he could perceive that this man was probably looking for shelter and food and was not committed to the point of sacrificing Himself.

Many follow God, looking for the good things that they can receive, but never asking themselves “What Can I do for Him? How can I honor God by serving Him?” Serving God is not easy. Sometimes it means giving up/sacrificing yourself. One of the reasons that stop us from serving God, is our lack of commitment to Him: A part of us is still in the world and another part is in the Kingdom. If we look at the story of Matthew chapter 9:9, we see how Matthew did not hesitate to follow Christ unlike the disciple in Matthew 8:21-22, who wanted to go bury first His father and then follow Him, an expression used to say: let me first get my portion of heritage then I will follow you. But Christ told Him, Follow me first and I will give you an eternal Heritage!

Likewise, we should not hesitate to follow Christ and serve God with a willing Heart, not to be saved or get to heaven by our works, because the price has already been paid by Jesus Christ. We should also ask ourselves: “Where do we want to get in the Kingdom of God and what are we doing or sowing towards it?” We should not always sit and expect others to serve us in church but we should also take some responsibilities and serve others.