As we grow and develop in the things of God, we realize that one of the indispensable things that really develops the maturity of a believer is Service. It really doesn’t matter how much Revelation Knowledge a Believer has, he is not yet a candidate for Spiritual Leadership and Kingdom Influence if he has not demonstrated both the Heart and the Acts of Service within the context of Submission.
This Truth about Service is all the more relevant in a generation as “woke” as ours. A generation that offers everyone a voice and a platform with a click of a button on YouTube and Twitter. A generation that has watched the timeline required to “blow” reduce from the 7 year “Medical School” to 2 minute videos on IG. A generation that has seen repeatedly how staying controversial and unclad for 90 days can earn you N90 million. Yes, that generation!
Now that’s my Generation and I absolutely love my Generation. Because no Generation questions dogmas and traditions like mine. None refuses the projections and stereotypes of the previous generations like mine. It’s an absolute joy to be in such a generation.
However, my generation has been subtly programmed to never have to delay gratification or invest rigorously into productive pursuit… they have seen it (overnight celebrities) happen too many times to think they don’t stand a chance themselves. That generation is gradually cutting off the very branch upon which they hang; Service. The advancement of our generation was only possible because of the legacies of the previous generation. The posterity of future generations will plateau if we fail to serve that generation.
No Generation can leave behind a Legacy worth following without the core operating system of Service to humanity.
But before we go too far, we need to understand that as Christians, our frame of reference when it comes to Service is quite unlike any other paradigm. Jesus is such an Example, especially when we begin to unearth the concept of Service.
He had no business with how man fell but made it his entire eternal agenda to get that same man restored. And when it came to the strategy for that mission, there was no other way than for his Diety to be exchanged for our humanity, subject to beggarly elements. Elements that “had” no hold on him as Elohim but now wielding limiting powers over him in the terrestrial.
“Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name:” — Phillipians2: 5–9 (KJV)
He came to Serve humanity with His Divinity. Only His sinless blood could save us from the consequences of our sins; Death and Hell. Many times we discount the experience of Jesus on earth as a man, in regards to how far away from his Glorious Estate it was. Then we discount even further the possibility of Death having a hold on Him. Then we totally ignore the weight of what it meant for Jesus to spend 3 nights in hell, just so we would never have to feel the heat. Such sacrifice!
This is why the Believer Serves from a Place of an Eternal Deficit.
I’ll explain…
“Therefore, brethren, we are DEBTORS, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.” — Romans 8: 12 (KJV)
As far as our pursuit of God here on Earth and even in Eternity is concerned, we will never Serve God from the position of Credit. Nothing we do for God, give to God, serve God with, will ever be recorded in God’s ledger as an addition from us to God’s Economy. All we are able to do will always reflect as an “attempt” to pay back as Debtors for God’s benevolence.
This is why there will never be room for Boasting in the Kingdom. When we serve from this understanding, our service will never be to the end of commendation or applause by men. When you get to the end of all you can sacrifice for God, you are still in deficit.
God does not demand you pay back in terms of what He did for you eternally in Christ, because He knows you couldn’t, but those who see the weight of His Sacrifice put themselves under a willful yoke of Eternal Service to His Will. A Service that will never get out of the red zone of deficit. This is why we don’t stop Serving, Loving and Maturing… because we see Jesus…
Crucified
Laid behind the tomb
Like a rose trampled on the ground
He took the fall
And thought of me
Above all
Above all His convenience, comforts, glories, dignities, He placed me above it all. This is why we Serve tirelessly the Saints of God and the People of the World in reconciling them back to God.
Today, ask yourself, are you truly Serving? Or simply waiting for a prepared seat on the right side of Jesus in Glory?
May the Lord grant us understanding.
Have a productive week ahead.
Dami Oguntunde
@damioguntunde