The sermon I heard last week about SERVICE – continues to stick in my mind. The sermon was about how God has called all of us to serve in some form or another. I felt like this sermon would be useless to Jose and I – after all we’re missionaries. I mean service is our life. But the more I heard about what true service is – then when I heard this song – – it made me re-evaluate what I call service.
We sang this song – Take My Life And Let It Be
Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.
Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my king.
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold not a might would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use every power as you choose.
::Chorus::
Here am I, all of me.
Take my life, it’s all for thee.
Take my will and make it Thine it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord I pour at your feet its treasure store
Take myself and I will be ever, only all for thee,
Take myself and I will be ever, only all for thee.
– – – – – – –
I think sometimes service can become such second nature that we almost forget why we are doing it and I’m not sure it’s really service anymore. Is there a difference between a job and service? I think there is. Sometimes what I might think of as service is really just my job. I believe service is actually going further than what I do on a daily basis. Taking care of groups, dealing with the campus, booking tickets – that’s my job. It’s such second nature that sometimes I’m not sure that I do all that for God but more simply because it’s what I’m supposed to do.
Take myself and I will be – ever, only, all – for thee.
Here I am – all of me – take my life – it’s all for thee.
I don’t think FOR ME being a missionary or devoting myself to service is necessarily the same thing as giving myself – all of myself – to God for His use. Now that sounds crazy because isn’t that exactly what missionaries are? Here is where I think MY problem lies – – when I know God has called me but once I “arrived” then I took things back into my own hands. I gave ALL OF ME in the beginning but then began to take some of it back.
God and I often fight about who’s leading this ship! Well – I should say – I often fight with God about who is leading this ship! Getting back to the heart of worship – where it’s not about me – and it’s all about Him – it can be a battle. But I certainly felt challenged and encouraged to truly give ALL OF ME to Him. I don’t want to count myself exempt from service by default – it’s my job. I don’t want to not do anything while I’m in the states these few months because I do all my service in Haiti. Nope – I think God is showing me what true Service is and although it’s a lesson He has tried to teach me about 100 times now – I’m finding myself more and more inclined to LISTEN!
I have felt so bad the last few days and have been frustrated that things aren’t going as I WOULD HAVE THEM. I have prayed over and over – maybe 100 times in the last three days trying to change my focus- TAKE MY WILL AND MAKE IT THINE – IT SHALL BE NO LONGER MINE. TAKE MY LIPS AND LET THEM BE – FILLED WITH MESSAGES FROM THEE. TAKE MY MOMENTS AND MY DAYS – LET THEM FLOW WITH CEASELESS PRAISE.