Why serve others?

Why do we serve others?

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

All the time we hear that we should be serving others- at church, at home, at school. There are groups that are solely devoted to community service, people who live to do acts of service. We all know serving others is important, but why? And how do we do it?

There are so many reasons as to why we serve. The first being that Jesus served us first. He came down from heaven to serve humanity, not to be served, as stated in Mark 10:45. We do not serve others because we have to, we serve them because we want to in response to what Jesus did for us. Our service shows Christ to the world. Once we have been saved, that should be our main goal.

We also serve God when we serve others. In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus says that what we do to the least of these, we do to him. If we feed the hungry, we fed Jesus. If we clothe the poor, we clothed Jesus. But, if we ignore the hungry and poor, we ignored Jesus. When we do service for other people, we are directly serving the Lord.

A major reason I serve is that I want to share Jesus with the world. When we serve, we are the hands and feet of Jesus. We have the opportunity to pour love and hope into someone’s life. In serving others, we can show them the personality of Jesus.

One thing to keep in mind is to meet physical needs before spiritual needs. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the bottom level, the largest level and the one that supports the entire pyramid, is physical needs. All other needs, emotional, social, environmental, and spiritual come after that. For example, you cannot preach with words to a starving person. That is not what they need. The most effective way to show Jesus is to meet people where they are and minister to them there. They can see Jesus in a sandwich or new pair of shoes. You do not necessarily have to give your testimony.

As to who we serve, that depends on your personal calling. I, personally, do not do as well with seniors as I do with elementary students. Yet, I have friends who love seniors and do not do well with children. There are so many groups you can serve: children, senior citizens, military/police, the homeless, widowers, animals, the disabled, students, teachers, even the environment. Some people may prefer animals to people or teens to children. That is okay! God put a special calling on your heart for a specific group. So, while my friends go to the nursing home, I will help in a preschool classroom. But, one thing to remember is to not deny your love just because you are uncomfortable. I went to a special needs prom and was incredibly awkward, but since I was there, I made the most of that. God put me out of my comfort zone so that I could learn and love. I got so much out of that night, and I know the people who came loved it! Don’t deny opportunities because you will be uncomfortable. God loves pulling out of our personal bubbles!

There are many ways in which we can serve people. Who you are serving will decide how you do it. For the military, I cannot be with them, but I can send them care packages. For the homeless, I cannot buy them a home, but I can make them food or give them toiletries. We cannot take all the dogs at the shelter home (as adorable as they are), but we can play with them and help the shelter owners with feeding them. Some sample projects you can do with your church group or community  include homemade dog toys, teacher agape, mailable hugs, and military care packages.

I hope after reading this you will feel encouraged, motivated, and equipped to go and serve others. We serve because Jesus served us. Service is the response to salvation. Go and do as Jesus would, spilling love and hope into people’s lives.

Are there any service projects you would like to see featured on my blog? Please comment them below! I would love to hear from you!