Server of the Month

Joshua likes to make fun of me when I claim that I once was a server in a local restaurant in my hometown of Maysville. The truth be told, I only worked about 5 weeks, but though I didn’t work a long period of time, I was still required to serve people their food, “marry” ketchup bottles (that’s restaurant lingo for combining ketchup so they can be full bottles), roll silverware and be an overall cheerful greeter to all that came to dine! Was I a 5 star server like those sweet ladies who fill your sweet tea and keep you filled with yummy biscuits and apple butter at Cracker Barrel? Well, not quite! I never quite mastered carrying a huge tray on one hand, I didn’t always remember the little details that people would request, and I felt less than enthused as the customers poured out the numerous peanut shells on the floor that I had just swept 5 minutes before closing! I got the job done and my employers were pleased, but I’m sure if you asked them, they wouldn’t dub me, “Server of the Month!”

I am reminded that serving the Lord (which comes down to truly serving others over ourselves) should be quite different from my waitressing experience. I should work a bit harder to master some of the tricks of the trade, even when they are a bit challenging and require some practice and some extra time. Sharing the Gospel may not come easy, but with each day spent studying God’s Word, praying and living a Christ-centered life, next should come confidence to verbally share the Good News of Christ! I should be a person that is big on the details that make a difference! When people talk, I should listen and not just hear the words that leave their mouth. Only then will people see that I truly care about them and help reveal to them what may be blocking them from seeing Christ. I should see the messes that people make, both literally and figuratively, as opportunities to serve as Christ served, humbly taking the form of a slave and washing the feet of those that need to see that no matter how dirty they may be, I love them because God loves and made them and He has done the same for me, cleaning me up with each new day! This is true service; service without apologies, service without complaining, service without question and most importantly, service with joy!

"But servants who don't know what their master wants them to do will not be beaten so hard for doing wrong. If God has been generous with you, he will expect you to serve him well. But if he has been more than generous, he will expect you to serve him even better. Luke 12:48 (Contemporary English Version)

Do you serve as it is your joy or because you want to be the Server of the Month? Do you serve because you are expected to or do you serve because you find a source of pleasure in fulfilling what God has called you to do as His child in sharing and spreading Christ’s story with everyone!? When you serve, serve as though you know how God has served you! He sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you, taking on the humble and lowly form of a man in order to reach a world that is lost! Live as though you not only serve, but you desire to find ways to serve even better, striving to glorify God in all that you do!