Heart of Service

What do you live for? Some people live for fast cars, luxury, jobs that pay lots of money, power, fame, and the list goes on. If I were to think of one idea that ties all of the things on this list together, it’s selfishness.

God calls all Christians to live for something more than this. The Bible calls citizens of God’s kingdom to live by a principle that transcends selfishness and calls us to be self-less. If we call ourselves Christians, we have to be like Christ. While on this earth, Jesus never lived for His passions and desires. He lived to do God’s will and the benefit of others. When we encounter Jesus and choose to follow Him, we have to lay down our passions and desires and make them subject to Jesus, because we will never be like Him if we always come first in our minds.

Jesus calls us to have His heart, a heart of service. The heart of service is more than feeding the poor or helping the less fortunate. The heart of service is a way of thinking – a transformation of world view. It’s not enough to just do community service. A heart of service will always inconvenience you. A heart of service will prefer to suffer so that others can be well and ultimately see Jesus through you. We are not born with this mentality. Only the presence of the Savior can ever give us a real heart of service. Ellen White puts it this way, “I should not want to live unless I could live to do some good to others.” According to her, a person with a real heart of service would rather forfeit their life than think about self-gratification.

How many of us can say that we would rather die than to be selfish? How many of us can say that we would forfeit our life if we couldn’t help our fellow man. I appeal to you to reflect on your motives and actions. Evaluate who you are at your core. Ask Jesus today to make you like Him, ask Him to give you a heart of service, and while you are waiting for that to happen, just do it.

Pastor Anthony Nix

Anthony serves as the Pastor For Anderson Seventh-day Adventist Church in Anderson, IN. A charismatic communicator with a message that motivates discipleships to Jesus, Anthony teaches on a variety of topics, emphasizing God’s unfailing love and His desire to be in relationship with His creation. He is a graduate of Southern Adventist University. Anthony and his wife Nayeli have three beautiful and loving children.