Of all the disciplines, the discipline of Service has to be the most manipulated. What do I mean by that? The discipline of Service characteristically has a primary focus that wavers between the primary recipient: Me or Christ. The discipline of service is one that requires as well the discipline of focus, because it is so easy to divert our attention from the proper recipient - Jesus Christ - and gravitate towards ourselves.
It is also very easy to become "self-seeking" in regards to rewards when it comes to the discipline of service. Most people like to be recognized for service, or at least they like to see results from their service. But what if neither of these were ever promised. I read this story recently that made me think a lot about my own service and my personal rewards.
On an ordinary winter day in 1961, an MIT meteorologist named Edward Lorenz ran some routine experiments and found some unusual results. Lorenz discovered that seemingly tiny and insignificant changes in his data could produce huge differences in the final result. At first, Lorenz and other scientists in the field of chaos theory called this "the sensitive dependence on initial data." Fortunately, later on Lorenz used a simpler term—"the butterfly effect." In 1972, Lorenz presented a scientific paper entitled "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set off a Tornado in Texas?" According to Lorenz's theory, the butterfly's wing-flapping doesn't actually cause a tornado, but it can start a chain reaction leading to giant changes in world-wide weather patterns. In others words, even tiny, insignificant movements or actions can produce huge changes that affect millions of people.
What if the butterfly effect was also true of our service? Though we would never know the immediate impact, what if our tiny acts of kindness set off a firestorm of activity that may never even happen in our lifetime? That's what I find so amazing about God's sovereignty. He can take our tiniest act of service and use it in amazing and powerful ways, ways which we may never see come to fruition, we are only called to be obedient. You see, Christ is always the recipient of our service. Paul reminded the Phillipian church of their target.
13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you.
Philippians 2:12-15 (NLT)
It's truly amazing what can happen to our service when we stop looking inwardly at the effects of our service on "US," and begin examining instead the effects of our service for Christ as it reaches out towards others. This attitude will dramatically change how we serve on Sunday at church, at work and at home.
Love to hear from you.
Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment