I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls… —2 Corinthians 12:15
Once “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” we deliberately begin to identify ourselves with Jesus Christ’s interests and purposes in others’ lives (Romans 5:5). And Jesus has an interest in every individual person. We have no right in Christian service to be guided by our own interests and desires. In fact, this is one of the greatest tests of our relationship with Jesus Christ. The delight of sacrifice is that I lay down my life for my Friend, Jesus (see John 15:13). I don’t throw my life away, but I willingly and deliberately lay it down for Him and His interests in other people. And I do this for no cause or purpose of my own. Paul spent his life for only one purpose— that he might win people to Jesus Christ. Paul always attracted people to his Lord, but never to himself. He said, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).When someone thinks that to develop a holy life he must always be alone with God, he is no longer of any use to others. This is like putting himself on a pedestal and isolating himself from the rest of society. Paul was a holy person, but wherever he went Jesus Christ was always allowed to help Himself to his life. Many of us are interested only in our own goals, and Jesus cannot help Himself to our lives. But if we are totally surrendered to Him, we have no goals of our own to serve. Paul said that he knew how to be a “doormat” without resenting it, because the motivation of his life was devotion to Jesus. We tend to be devoted, not to Jesus Christ, but to the things which allow us more spiritual freedom than total surrender to Him would allow. Freedom was not Paul’s motive at all. In fact, he stated, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren…” Romans 9:3. Had Paul lost his ability to reason? Not at all! For someone who is in love, this is not an overstatement. And Paul was in love with Jesus Christ.
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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
One thing I’ve become convinced of is that I can’t serve well in 27 different capacities. I become too diluted and then do them all poorly and then go on a guilt trip because I’m not doing them well. So it seems that I need to hear you well through our connection and focus on the service that you have for me and learn to say no, thank you, to the other opportunities … without feeling guilty.
If you are doing anything “for me” out of guilt, it is not really for me. It is to assuage your guilt feelings. Know that guilt is not how I motivate my children. Love is my key in your heart. Follow me and follow love and you can leave guilt behind.
I’ve been fighting this guilt monster and the overload monster, saying yes to every offer, for a long time. I think I’ve got it down to a couple of large service areas plus any spontaneous thing that you show me, like a stranded motorist etc. I hope I’m not missing anything, but I’m learning to say no, unless you make it clear to me that you want me involved in an opportunity.
I like the way Eugene concludes it here:
1 Corinthians 9:22The Message
19-23 Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!
I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view.
Help me, Lord to do that this day and every day