Against the Grain

"Service enables us to say 'no!' to the world's games of promotion and authority."

"True service ministers simply and faithfully because there is a need...  True service is a life-style.  It acts from ingrained patterns of living.  It springs spontaneously to meet human need."

"More than any other single way, the grace of humility is worked into our lives through the Discipline of Service."
--Richard Foster, "Celebration of Discipline"

It's not the way the world works today, is it?  Serve your neighbor - whoever that may be?  Don't take credit.  Don't boast.  Don't look for payment or payback.  Don't expect only good things to happen to you in return.  Don't look for everyone's approval at the good thing you just did.

The way God calls us to service goes against everything our society stands for, doesn't it?

I love that quote about learning the "grace of humility" through service.  Humility is something we think of as bad in today's modern world.  Everyone should be assertive.  Powerful.  Indepedent.  Blah blah blah.

God says to serve.  Be humble in what we have - for it was given to us.  We were blessed with the grace and love of God.  Do we really need more than that?  Or should we be happy to simply spread that love and grace around? 

Take notice this week...  Are you able to stay humble?  To just say "you're welcome" when a gift of service is noticed  - and even better, to do the service in a way that the recipient doesn't even know it was you?  Or are you looking for credit and approval?

This is a hard one.  We're programmed one way - and God is calling us to be the other.  This week, try to follow God's calling to your heart, and leave the world's earthly values behind...