Fully Devoted Service
OPENING PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, thank you for the gifts you’ve given me. Help me to fully devote them to your use. Amen
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice.” 1 Samuel 15:22 (NIV)
REFLECT:
We all have gifts and talents. The decision is do we want to fully devote those gifts to the Lord? Making a choice to use our gifts for the Lord comes with accountability. Do we postpone making choices because we fear we may fail? I know I do. To devote our service to God entrusts us with a challenge of obedience and responsibility to fulfill that commitment. To possibly fail in my service to God troubles me. I don’t want to let God down so I choose not to make the choice.
Being devoted begins with a decision to want to be devoted. So, we have before us a choice: will we be fully devoted or not?
APPLY:
God’s call to service by volunteering, being generous, or whatever that looks like in your world, is a call to obedience. In today’s world we sometimes confuse ministry with our jobs at work. The corporate world ensnares us with the idea that a church should be run like a business. If we look at the biblical example of church we see people being trained and released into ministry, a place of facilitating people to be disciples. Prayed over and sent out men and women are devoted to serve the Lord with their whole hearts, no matter the threats, no matter the consequences, no matter the cost.
Will we obey God’s call or will we attempt to do things our own way? When faced with a decision to serve or not, learn a lesson from the disciples. Jesus’ disciples were fully devoted to serve him. They loved their work, but it cost them their all. Ten disciples paid the ultimate price of their lives when they chose to live surrendered to the gospel of Christ. John was the only disciple not martyred and later wrote the book of Revelation. One disciple chose to do it his own way and his name was Judas. We are all called to be Jesus’ disciples and we all have a choice of how we will live that calling. Let’s make the choice to fully devoted service, and when our time comes, may we hear those precious words from our master “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
“If you love what you do, you won’t work another day of your life.”
CLOSING PRAYER:
Heavenly Father; I desire to use my gifts for your service. Show me what you have for me to do and help me to be obedient to your call. Amen
WORSHIP: