Tag Archives: God’s plan

Service Before Self

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“Service Before Self”, is one of the core values of the US Air Force. We all serve someone at some point in our day and usually throughout our lives. As parents, we serve our kids, as spouses we serve our mate and as employees we serve customers – either internal or external to the company. Even leaders have people that they serve. A leader should be someone who is serving those that follow them; the concept of servant leadership. By making their followers stronger, servant leaders build up their staff and work to make them successful. There are people in leadership positions who wrongfully believe that since they are in this place of “power” that people should be serving them. A true leader is more concerned about how they can support and help those that follow them. Ken Blanchard writes extensively about servant leadership and his research on leadership. We all see many people today who are simply serving themselves. The millennium generation grew up watching the greed of Wall Street and “leaders” serving their own interests. If anyone else benefited, well, that was just extra. So, who are you serving? I would suggest putting your focus on others and see what comes of it. I have benefited from a number of mentors in my life and I have also played that role for others. It is immensely satisfying and rewarding to help others when there is nothing to be gained.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

St. Paul wrote a lot about serving others in his letters, focusing much of his attention on humility. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul reminds them to be humble proclaiming “I came to you in weakness and fear”, he was asking them to serve others with humility too. Using Jesus as our example, ask yourself, how did He show humility for us? The first thing that comes to my mind is the washing of His disciple’s feet at the last supper. The leader of the group, the leader of the heavens washed feet. Jesus was serving us! The Son of God and God Himself was serving us so that we would have eternal life. God has prepared the good works for us. He has set the course, put people in our lives and us in the lives of others so that we could execute the plan He has for us. God has prepared these good works for us in advance; they aren’t chance but these opportunities are given to us to do God’s work. We are not put here to do our works or to be boastful. My apologies to the Air Force but “Service Before Self” really came from God, was demonstrated to us by Jesus and now we must humble ourselves to serve others, just as God planned.

 

Opportunity is Knocking

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I had two ideas when I read this verse, one was about “open door” policies that many leaders claim to have and the other was about opportunity knocking. The challenge here is that if the door is open, then no one would need to knock. So let’s talk about opportunity knocking. Opportunity comes in many forms and at all times; sometimes we recognize it and sometimes we don’t. The other contributing factor to “opportunity” is the people you meet in your life’s journey. I have learned first hand that it’s not what you know; it’s who you know. For example, my work with the military is a result of my meeting several very generous men of Army North two months before my unplanned retirement. We worked together on a local project, they thought that I would be a good addition to the contracting group that supported them and gave my number to the lead contractor. “Military contractor” was not something that I even knew was available for me as I stared into a black hole that was my future. As it turned out, it has become the single largest source of income for my business and has taken me all across the country. When I left the fire service, I never thought that I would find something that could bring me as much satisfaction but working with the Homeland Defense forces and the Civil Support Training Activity staff did. My journey into life after the fire service has been filled with “opportunities” that knocked, all I needed to do was answer.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” – Revelation 3:20

Whose plan is leading your life? Is it God’s or one that you have been working on? Christians often talk about “opportunity knocking” as God’s hand at work in our lives. When a Christian waits for the knock and believe that it never comes, they start to doubt their faith. Why won’t God answer my prayer? God does answer; we just sometimes don’t realize it. We doubt ourselves and don’t take advantage of the opportunity or we don’t trust God to bring us through the challenge we face. Today’s verse tells us that God is here, standing at the door knocking. Do you hear His voice and answer the door? God promises that He will come in; all you have to do is open the door to Him. What does that mean? Open your heart, your mind and your soul to God. Believe His word, His promises and most importantly, believe in His Son Jesus Christ. Letting God take over “your” life is hard and scary – you think that you’ll have no control. This is not what God wants for you. He gave us mental reasoning and a road map in the bible for our lives; He wants fellowship with all of us. Open the door and let Him in and He will eat with you. Open yourself to Him, read His word, follow His commands, rest in knowing your sins are forgiven because you are with Him.