[Blog] iServe

Yesterday, I was assigned to lead our Victory Group. This is my 2nd time but my first time with Gin and Nora. These women I can say are "hardcore" when it comes to knowing God's words. I say this because they have been Christians for a very long time already and that they know a lot of Bible verses that I know I cannot deliver. My memory is poor and a lot of times I get intimidated by people like them. I get intimidated by people who I know are better than me with practically anything. That day is not an exemption for these women are simply awesome when it comes to God's word.

I was assigned to lead our own victory group and unlike the first one I led before, I studied for that meeting but for this one, I did not get to prepare for it. On my way to church yesterday for the 11am service, I thought that I'm sure Pastor Robert will discuss this so I can have an overview of what to say. ALAS! There's no Pastor Robert in front to preach and the topic is totally different from the VG material. I was super blanked out but the service was so great that I did not think of our VG that afternoon. The guest pastor was very profound, spoke eloquently and gave us a very clear explanation on what MAKING DISCIPLES is all about. But I will tell you about this tomorrow perhaps on another blog. :)

It hit me hard when I realized that it's only 15 minutes left with the service and I am meeting the VG anytime soon. I know I worry of what to say and how will I lead the group but to my surprise, I was calm. Me and my BFF - Gin - had a very lengthy time to talk about so many different things until Nora came in. I did not tell them that I will be leading the VG session for the day for I don't want to put pressure on to myself. While waiting for others, I invited the Holy Spirit to speak to me and bless me with the write words to say and I was amazed on how faithful God is. He left me at awe of Him.

As I was saying, the topic was about service. It was a wake up call for me that God was a servant in His entire stay with us. He never made the apostles feel that He is God even if miracles happen right before their very eyes. He remained humble but never timid. During the session, there were 3 bullet points that were given high importance as to what kind of attitude one should have as we follow and imitate our ultimate role model - JESUS CHRIST.

1. Considering the interest of others

"And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." - Matthew 22:39

Most of the time, we put premium to what we have and how we look like and disregard things surrounding us. To so many people this is easy to do for it will glorify them at the end of the day but this is the same level of love that we should have when we love our neighbor. Doesn't make sense? Actually, it does not seem to make sense but here's the thing. We cannot give what we do not have. If we have that high regards to ourselves then that's the same regard God wants us to give to others as well. The love that we say we want to give others for God commanded so, we should grab a mirror and ask ourselves, "how do I love thee?" Funny as it seems but that is reality right in your face! We shall never forget that this is the command of our living God to love another and to do this to love our neighbor the same level of love we have for ourselves.

2. Humility

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." - Romans 12:3

PRIDE is a killer! many relationships died because of this and a lot more in the future. When we care about others, we eliminate this because you know that you will hurt your loved one in the process if you do not. Same thing in serving. We should TOTALLY loose this one when we say that we want to serve God. Thursday, we had the Music Ministry's orientation day and one thing Pastor Robert said that the stage is a danger zone. I should say it's a permanent danger zone. It gives us the pride that we are good at it and in the end, we glorify ourselves and forget that we are serving our God by leading the people to worship. I stepped back and asked myself, "did I cross that line already?" Somehow, it made me feel convicted then I cried inside and made sure that only God sees the tears I poured out that night when I asked for His forgiveness. I asked for it because I don't know if I am already displeasing Him. However, since we have a loving and promise-keeping God, He comforted me in the midst of everything. Let us not cross that danger zone that we forget that we are serving our God Almighty. It is humility that reigned in God's heart when He sent His Son to serve us and save us from our sins. So have a Christ-like heart of humility.

3. Obedience

"Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." - 2 Corinthians 9:10

Hmmm...this one is kinda hard, isn't it? OBEDIENCE is the enemy of REBELLION. As mentioned in the guide sheet, Jesus did not just have the willingness to serve but it was done out of OBEDIENCE to his Father. Jesus is such an obedient Son! What struck me during our session yesterday was when Gin said that she admires Abraham so much that he exudes obedience all over himself. Abraham is a good example of a person having trust in God, believe in God and Obedience. He trusted and believed God that he will give him and his wife a Son and it took him soooooooooooo many years til this happened. There's humility and patience while waiting for that promised day. Years after Isaac was born, God commanded Abraham to bring Isaac to the mountain and use as his offering to him. I cannot tell how much pain Abraham had in his heart when he heard this but out of OBEDIENCE to God, he just followed and believed that there's rationale behind doing this. :) At the top of the mountain, God provided a ram for Abraham to use as his burnt offering. Then Gin said, a lot of times, we tend to worry about so many things that we miss on God's provision.

We forget that God has a reason why he allows things happen to us. have you heard of the phrase, "bad things happen to good people"? Me, gazillion times already! But let me correct the person who authored this phrase. There are a lot of sides to this phrase and two are "good things happen to good people" and "good things happen to bad people as well". When I was not a Christian yet, I thought to myself, God will only favor those who are good ones and I categorically say I am the opposite of this. But I appreciate God more for he keeps His promises. As I said good things happen to bad people so how much more to those who obey Him? We call it in Filipino, "siksik, liglig, umaapaw" as mentioned in Luke 6:38"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

I may have swerved a bit but bottom line is, Obedience pleases God. When we give our service, we must keep in mind that we are obeying God when he sends us to serve others be it in ministry or elsewhere that we do this to exalt Him and His name to all corners of the earth.

After our session yesterday, it lingered in me that I have to look at Christ and how he lived His life before I can say that I am ready to serve. Christ Jesus who knows that He is God and that He was sent by His Father to die on the cross to save us still remained humble, thought of other's interest and just obeyed God even if the end would mean that He will suffer the shameful death at the cross.

WHEW! I got too much to say and my heart still speaks of so many wonderful things about God.

Be blessed and be a blessing!