The Joy Of Serving Others

The Joy of Serving Others

You have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

Some time ago I met a woman who lives with a contagious attitude of celebration, joy, and generosity of spirit. Although she is a busy mother of three and a nurse who works with critically ill patients, she has made time in the last few years for three medical mission trips to the poorest parts of Mexico and the Amazon River in South America. Whenever there is a tornado or other crisis, she sets up first-aid stations in the affected community. In her spare time, she teaches classes in lifesaving CPR for the American Red Cross.

You might think this woman would at least take a break in the summer! But for ten years she’s served as a camp nurse for two hundred children and also launched a clown ministry with the youth group she leads. In her forties, she has tackled rock climbing and embarked on mountain-climbing adventures with the Sierra Club. What is Peggy’s secret to living a joyful, adventurous life?

“The size of your world is the size of your heart” is her motto. Peggy has discovered that her heart is happiest when she’s reaching out, not being self-absorbed. She finds joy in giving her life away, not in keeping it: by bringing medical care to “the least of these” who could never afford to pay her or the team back, by serving people in her community, by cheering chronically ill kids at camp. Jesus said something important about this: When we are willing to lose our lives for his sake, we really find life (see Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24). Then the joy that we give to others is the joy that comes back to us. Where would God want you and me to give our lives away? Who around us needs a cup of cold water or the benefit of the skills or resources that God has entrusted to us?

—CHERI

Lord Jesus, I can get so absorbed with “me, myself, and I” that I forget there is a world of hurt out there and scores of people who are needy. Forgive me for trying to “keep” my life instead of being willing to share it. You said the fields are white for harvest and the laborers are few. Show me the fields in which you want me to serve. And may I experience your joy as I serve others in your name.

I think we can do something which will cause the shortness of life to work in our behalf, rather than against us. We can give our lives away! As the commercial suggests, we can “reach out and touch someone.” Instead of holing up in our own four-square world, we can strive to be characterized by generosity.

—LUCI SWINDOLL, SPEAKER AND AUTHOR