Malachi 3:14 “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God.’” Where is a person in life when he reaches this startling conclusion? Namely that service unto the Most High is a waste of time, breath, and life! Service unto The Almighty is useless and worthless. When you sit and think about such a statement, it is shocking!
However, the really shocking truth is that if we are honest, we have thought or felt this before! We would never say it out loud, but we have we not wondered, “After all I have done for the Lord, why is this happening to me?” The logic is the same; serving God is vain. So how does one reach this conclusion, and how can we prevent this logic from settling in our hearts?
The conclusion that service to God is vain is easily reached when “we” are the center of our worlds instead of God! If we think everything revolves around us, if we think we “deserve” special treatment for our dedication, then we will soon decide that godly service is vain. If God becomes a means instead of our goal, we will inevitably conclude godly service is vain.
The reason why this conclusion is reached so quickly is because in reality God is the center and that reality will run head-on with our false notion of “self-centeredness!” In order to fight this temptation, we must take a heart check daily by practicing self denial. It’s difficult to keep “self” on the throne when you love and serve others! In addition, we must pray that God would ignite our hearts for Christ, meditate deeply on the Word, and keep reminding ourselves that everything (including us) exists for the glory of God! The more we embrace and pursue that truth, the quicker we will reach a far different conclusion, namely, serving God is satisfying and thrilling!
No comments:
Post a Comment