15 October 2023 - Made to serve God

John 17:4(MSG) I glorified you on earth by completing down to the last detail what you assigned me to do.

Romans 12:1(NLT) And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Psalm 100:2(ESV) Serve the Lord with gladness!

Ephesians 2:10(NKJV) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

It’s easy to forget that the real reason we exist is for God’s purposes and not our own. It’s also hard to remember our purpose when we find ourselves in difficult circumstances.

When we keep our real purpose in mind, we will begin to see every situation, even the hard ones, as opportunities to serve God and His people.

Ephesians 2:10(NCV) God made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.

Another word for good works is ministry. Anytime you use your talents and abilities to help somebody else, you are actually ministering to them.

1 Peter 4:10(TLB) God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.

Serving God and serving others is what we are called to do. In his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rick Warren writes: You were put on earth to make a contribution. You weren’t created just to consume resources - to eat, breathe, and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life … You were created to serve God.

1 Corinthians 12:7(NLT) A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

You are God’s handcrafted work of art. You are not an assembly-line product, mass produced without thought. You are a custom-designed, one-of-a-kind, original masterpiece.

Psalm 139:13-14(NLT) You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it.