Heart

Heart

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. Work hard, but not just to please your masters when they are watching. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart.

Ephesians 6:5-6

“[Doing] the will of God with all your heart” (v. 6) was the key to a slave’s ability to persevere in difficult circumstances. Slaves’ service was to be motivated not by their own feeble desires to please their masters, but by what was going on in their hearts—their desire to do God’s will.

I regret occasions when my service has been motivated by desire for approval from other people. When I approach it with that objective, my efforts are not rewarded with God’s approval. When Jesus was on earth, his ministry was an expression of who he was. He knew that he was going to die for people who rejected his acts of service. He left us a great example: serve freely to please God, not to please other people. “Jesus knew that he would soon be returning to his Father. Being assured of his own destiny, he focused his attention on the disciples and showed them what it meant for him to become their servant and for them to serve one another.”^a

For our hearts to be in the right place—for our headquarters and center of operations to function for God’s Kingdom—we must do what Jesus did. He focused on his origin and his destiny. When we remember daily our sin (our origin), the blood that he shed for us, and that he is coming again to take us to our real home in heaven with him (our destiny), our hearts will want to serve him regardless of outer circumstances.

Jesus,

Thank you for your purity of heart. Thank you that although God’s plan for you meant death on a cross, you chose to serve your Father. Please give us your strength so that as we serve our families, we will choose to serve you from our hearts. Amen.