Inspirational article from Joanne Lowe

A CALL TO SERVICE

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Matthew 16: 24 – 26 King James Version

Have you ever seen the sign “Uncle Sam wants you”? They are calling for people to serve in the military. Jesus also gave us a call to service when He said “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take us his cross, and follow me”. Just as sometimes when people are called to enlist in the military and they refuse, so people sometimes also refuse to serve Jesus.

Some of us are called to go to foreign countries to serve as missionaries, but all of us are called to serve right where we live. We are to witness to our neighbors and at our jobs. This does not mean that we are to criticize them and tell them they are sinners. It means that we are to live our lives so that they will see the difference Jesus makes in a heart and life changed by Him. We are to tell them about the saving grace of our Saviour and tell them how to be saved, but then we need to give them to Jesus. Only Jesus can change a person’s heart and life.

We will never be the effective witnesses that Jesus wants us to be if we have unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, hatred and criticism in our hearts. We must go to Him daily and sometimes every hour and ask Him to prune us and take the weeds that displease Him out of our hearts.

A situation occurred a few days ago when I was talking with someone at a local business. She was very rude to me and I tried talking kind and quiet to her. However, she kept making remarks to me that made me feel like I was nothing and I finally lost my temper. After I got back home and thought about it, I realized that the lady had not seen Jesus in me. I asked Jesus to forgive me and called the lady and apologized for losing my temper. We must stay on guard at all times because nothing makes satan any happier than to create chaos and problems.

Have you allowed Jesus to prune your heart and make it fit for His use? If He should ask you to do something for Him right now, would you be able to do it? All of us should search our hearts to be certain that there is nothing that will displease Jesus. Are you serving Jesus today, or are you serving satan? There is no middle ground. We either are serving Jesus or we are serving satan.

Joanne Lowe

November 24, 2006

Back To Joanne Lowe Index