ACQUIRING THE SKILL OF SERVICE

Karl Barth defines service in this way: "In general terms, service is a willing, working and doing in which a person acts not according to his own purposes or plans but with a view to the purpose of another person and according to the need, disposition, and direction of others. It is an act whose freedom is limited and determined by the other's freedom, an act whose glory becomes increasingly greater to the extent that the  doer is not concerned about his own glory but about the glory of the other."

With this definition in place you can see how critical for us as disciples to master the art of serving on our spiritual journey.  Psalm 123 tells us, "Like servants, alert to their master's commands, like a maiden attending her lady, we're watching and waiting, holding our breath awaiting for your word of mercy."

"Unfortunately there are many so called followers of Jesus that think of religion as a far-off, mysteriously run bureaucracy to which we apply for assistance when we feel the need. We go to a local branch office and direct the clerk (sometimes called a pastor) to fill out our order for God.  Then we go home and wait for God to be delivered to us according the the specifications that we have set down."  ( Eugene Peterson)

We will never be true disciples until we learn what it means to serve.  We desperately need to learn what it is like to be fully under our Master's leadership.  Who came, by the way, TO SERVE.