Verses and Thoughts About Serving

For this particular post I am going to share several verses that have helped me whenever I serve, whether it be at church, home, or somewhere else.

"Where there are no oxen the manger is clean; but abundant crops come by the strength of an ox."

~Proverbs 14:4

Cheerful attitude.

At first glance this may seem like a weird verse. I mean who plants their crops using an ox? Of course given that in Israel at the time this was written they did that, but what is the significance of it in our lives today? I believe the point that the author is going for here is that without certain things, such as dirty dishes that need to be washed or a house to be cleaned, we don't have to clean them, but that would also imply that we don't have food that will dirty the dishes or a house to sleep in. This verse has been something that I try to keep in mind whenever I start to grumble or groan when cleaning.

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."

~Colossians 3:23,24

Perseverance.

This is a verse that spurs me on whenever I start to work at my jobs half heartedly and doing just enough to get by. If the Lord was the one overseeing what I'm doing would I be doing it just to get by? Probably not. I know that we're not supposed to try to work to gain more "love" from him (he couldn't love us anymore than he does!), but I want to give him my all because he gave it all for me.

"Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.' "

~Luke 17:9,10

Humility.

I have such a problem with staying humble when someone commends me for doing a good job at some work that was honestly rather easy. This is something I try to think of during those moments. We are such unworthy servants. We fail more than we succeed. Yet, God wants us to be his servants, isn't that amazing?