Why Serve?

We say we are serving God, but sometimes we’re actually serving ourselves.

We need to keep our motivations in check. We need to know why we are serving—the true reasons, not just the words we use, because we know they’re the right, appropriate words. It takes humility and maturity to explore and admit our motivations. Even when we start with pure motives of seeking, knowing, and honoring God, we can begin to grasp ownership. We can become proud of what we’re doing, even though the claim of “what we’re doing” is a tell.

When we think we’re indispensable, when we don’t involve others, when we don’t give away everything we learn, we’re not serving the generous God who is pouring into us. When we rationalize the weight of our service on our family and friends, we miss out on the broad perspective he has for our lives. We build compartments, and the service we keep on a schedule or in a building build a weighty burden as we rob from other areas of our lives.

We often listen more to our own reasoning more than we listen to God. And we even find Scripture to support us. We deceive ourselves into thinking we serve God in a specific way, checking off a box, so we must be spiritually healthy, but spiritual health is much more than a specific role, task, or routine. It is all. It is everything. It is purpose.

Until we’re ready to break down the walls to let God fill all the spaces and guide us in all relationships, responsibilities, actions, and attitudes, we weaken our relationship with him. And that leaks onto others. I don’t think that’s our intention with serving God, but sometimes our intentions slowly but surely veer off path. Let’s pay attention to a broader perspective. God gave us a pretty wide field of vision; let’s use it well.