The Beauty of Faithfully Serving
By Rev. Lawrence Robinson
Yesterday I had a really bad day at work. Nothing was wrong at the church. In fact, things are going in a reasonably good direction. I had no issues or problems with anyone. No one had come to me with a problem that may have seemed overwhelming. I was just having a bad day within myself. I couldn’t concentrate on doing the things I needed to do. I began looking at my weaknesses in view of the things that need to be done for us to have a ministry that glorifies our Lord and Savior. I started recalling the many places that I failed as a parent, husband, and a man. I became so low in my mind that I could not function, and I just could not get out of it. Ultimately my productivity for the day suffered.
This next morning, I got up and spent time with the Lord in the word and in prayer. I decided to go to work earlier so that I can begin my day sooner and possibly make up for the time that I lost, sulking in my own mind the day before. When I got to church around 7:30, there were several men already there cutting grass. They were smiling. They were joyful and they were encouraging. The thing that really hit me, (maybe the Holy Spirit was speaking), these men have been faithfully serving the Lord and caring for the church building all these years. Even in their older age, they’ve not lost a step in their faithfulness. When I mused over and over at how faithful they’ve been and still are, I thought to myself, what reason do I have to be downcast. What reason do I have for all my feelings of inadequacies? God wonderfully placed faithful serving people at New City East Side. He gave each of those people gifts and talents of which most of them use every day faithfully serving the body. God gave to them what He did not give to me so that they can serve Him faithfully also.
Seeing those men faithfully serving the body was a beautiful thing. They, through their faithful yet seemingly unseen service, demonstrate the beauty of faithful service. In the two years that I’ve been at NCES, I can’t ever remember the grass not being cut by Sunday. I can’t ever recall the people not serving in their missional communities or in their places of service on Sunday mornings. What was so particularly beautiful about the men cutting the grass this morning is that they are older now, but they’ve been doing it for years. Paul said this about the stewardship of our service and lives in 1 Cor 4:2.
“Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”
So often we want to be good at what we do and we should. However, we should be faithful. God entrusted to me and other pastors as well, a stewardship of preaching the gospel and leading His people to become transformed into the image of His dear son. Seeing those men faithfully serve Jesus for years, simply by cutting grass and tending to a building, caused me to confess my own slackness in faithfully serving my Lord. Those men spoke not a word, but their faithfulness hollered at me. While it may seem that your service is insignificant, your faithfulness in serving speaks as loud as the sermons I preach on Sunday mornings. That is the beauty of faithful service. We should all want to serve in such a way that when the end of our days is near, we can say like Paul said in 2 Tim 4:7-8. 7
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”
This is the real beauty of faithful service.
Pastor Robinson
