Stop serving God, and let Him serve you.
This past weekend my Dad and I enjoyed a weekend in Topsail Island, NC. I had never been to the outer banks before, but it was awesome. Dad's friend, Don, lives on the northern end of the beach; no commercialization, no crowds, no "wife-beater" t-shirts, and no spring break teeny-boppers. It was a great time to relax. When we got there, Don welcomed us and served us the entire time we were there: cooked three amazing dinners (including fresh shrimp, oysters, clams), and three breakfasts. He never asked us to do one thing to help, even though we offered on several occasions and even expressed that we didn't need him to cook all this food. I was at first feeling a little guilty that we were being treated like kings without doing anything. Then I realized that serving us is what brings him joy. He delights in it.
In his book Desiring God, John Piper has the same thought:
"The discovery was that we do not glorify God by providing His needs, but by praying that He would provide ours-and trusting Him to answer."
"God's insistence that we ask him to give us help so that He gets glory (Psalm 50:15) forces on us the startling fact that we must beware of serving God and take special care to let Him serve us, lest we rob Him of His glory."
"Acts 17:24-25 makes this plain:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything."
Isaiah 64:4 also reveals this truth: From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no one has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.
This truth did not impact me until recently. Most of us, I fear, are trained to believe that our responsibility as a Christian is to build a biography of service to God; a list of accomplishments for the kingdom. I think this temptation is great, especially to pastors. The pressure to prove our worth can drive us to working for God in a way that actually insults Him. God wants and deserves all glory. That means a little more dependence, helplessness, and humility on our part. That might mean we need to shift our thinking from "What can I do for God?" to "What do I need to allow God to do for me?" God desires to serve us. He's a foot-washer and a waiter (John 13; Luke 12). The reality is that there is a wrong way to serve God. This wrong way robs Him of glory.
Is the way you're serving God robbing Him of glory in serving you? The solution might be to stop serving Him and take a seat at the table.
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