“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Romans 12:1
God’s call to worship is so much more than singing songs. Don’t get me wrong. Music is a very important facet of worship, but God calls us to worship through our very lives. Serving the Lord by sacrificing our gifts, talents, time, and even our elbow grease is all worship.
“He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.’” John 21:17
God knew you before you were born. He’s responsible for your intelligence, humor, artistic/musical abilities, and your strong back. There is no question that He gifted these abilities to you for the purpose of worshiping Him. Jesus spoke of self-sacrificing love – love that puts others’ needs before your own through the action of service. This sets us apart from the rest of the world. While the rest of the world tells us that our time and talents are to be used to take care of ourselves first, Jesus tells us to serve others first.
Last summer I had the opportunity to volunteer with our young people leading the Flight Crew at Camp Araminta. The Flight Crew are for lack of a better term, the grunts of camp. Flight Crew’s responsibilities encompass everything from filling water jugs, to digging ditches, and cleaning toilets. The wonderful thing about it is how obviously the Holy Spirit begins to move through these high school students’ lives as they realize these acts of service are also acts of worship. A transformation happens as they have a new understanding that every lift of a shovel or scrub of a toilet bowl is worship to God.
“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.’” Matthew 9:37
Camp isn’t the only place this can be experienced. As we move into a new season as a church body, where is your service needed? We have opportunities to serve right here within our own church family. We need youth mentors, skilled (and unskilled) laborers, music team members, Sunday school teachers, home visitors, and people with technical abilities just to mention a few opportunities. I urge you to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance to find where you are called to worship God through service within our church body. There’s no doubt that God has something incredible He wants to do through you, His servant, right here.
John Harris
John joined Servants of Christ with his family the summer of 2014. John is a member of the music team, volunteers regularly with youth group events, and is active in the Men’s ministry at Servants of Christ. John also serves as staff at Camp Araminta. He is married to Kimberly Harris who is the Director of Children’s Ministries at Servants of Christ. They are the proud parents of Katelynne 11, Kaycee 6, and Jack 1. All three of the Harris children are small in stature but make up for it with large personalities.