Facet 2: Serve People

               We can also find rest by serving others. The next facet of rest is to Serve People. We looked at Matthew 22:36-40, and saw that we are called to Serve God. But we are also called to serve people. In Matthew 22:36-40, it says ‘“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”’ (NIV, 1984). Jesus is reminding us that we need to love God and love people. We just heard of the greatest commandment and that the other commandment is similar. This other command is to love people. When one serves people, they demonstrate the same love God has for the world. This love is real and is available for anyone to receive for themselves. One of the difficulties that this can bring is when people believe that they have to serve people in order to get to heaven. However, there is no amount of work that people can do to get to heaven. The reason why people are called to serve is to represent God’s love to the world.

               As I have served in several ministries in my life, I have found that serving people has given me peace. This is more than just a state-of-mind. This kind of peace is from serving others. It is not because it helps us get to heaven. One point I want to make clear is that there is not amount of work we can do to get to heaven. We do not serve people to get salvation, we serve people because of our salvation. There is a difference between the two.

               If we seek earthly rewards, then we are focused on getting credit from people. But if we seek heavenly rewards, then we are looking for credit from God.

Resource

               Scofield, C. I., English, E. S., Mason, C. E., Babb, W. S., & Karleen, P. S. (1984). Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible: New International Version: New Scofield Study System with Introductions, Annotations, and Subject Chain References. Oxford University Press.