Serving requires sacrifices. Sometimes we have to postpone something good we want to do in order to help someone in need. But we should remember that we are doing something better than the work we left behind.
But even so, good deeds done with the wrong attitude profit us nothing. A small deed done with love profits us more than a great deed done without love. And if all we can do is small deeds, God highly values that, for he takes into account what we are able to do more than how great the deed is.
If you love much you will do much. And if you are unselfish then you will accomplish much. Service and ministry should be for the benefit of others, not ourselves. Often service or ministry is motivated by desire for personal gain or glory, powered by our own will, and dependant on our own natural gifts and desires.
True service and ministry is motivated by the desire to love and glorify God. Then we won’t envy the success of others, because we won’t be concerned with our own benefit. We will only be concerned with doing God’s will. We will be glad that we are blessed by God that we can serve Him. God Himself is our reward. He is the beginning and end of our peace and joy. When our love is focused on God like this we will learn that the treasures of the world pale by comparison.
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This post is based on Chapter 15 of The Imitation of Christ
