The joy and privilege of serving

Nov 11, 2009

Blog - Rutten 11 Nov 09

 

I have been mulling over in my mind, the topic of serving for a few months now. But it has been a struggle to articulate all I felt about it.  How do we do it; how do we serve well? What if we stray towards works of the flesh and drivenness?  All these thoughts have run through my mind over the last months, weighing on my heart, especially as from time to time I hear the complaining voices of the ‘saints’ which disturbs my heart.  How can we complain when such a great debt of love has been paid for us?  How can I grow weary when I am living in abundant grace since receiving Christ’s love into my heart?

It all became crystal clear to me as I was reading this morning in Song of Solomon!  The light came on but I feel it is more of a prophetic word on serving than an essay.

We read of the Shulammite bride, longing for, desiring her husband.  She is deeply in love with her kingly groom; there is no doubt about that.  She anticipates his arrival at her door, she longs for his love, and she welcomes him with open arms to her garden of love. When he goes missing she searches for her beloved husband.

Suddenly the idea of ‘serving’ became very clear to me.  When you are deeply in love with your groom, there is no price too high to do what PLEASES HIM!!  Because this loving bride was so deeply enthralled with her husband, any task, chore or duty connected to him or his desires was only pure pleasure for her!  She was not a servant, but a lover of her husband.  Nothing was too difficult, nothing out of reach, nothing a burden because of her captivated heart for her King.  He was her first love and so any duty whether small or great required of her, was only a pleasure for her.  She didn’t HAVE to serve him; she had the PRIVILEGE of serving him!

My mind then wandered to the old movies we have all watched where there is a ‘wench’ in the household of some great king or nobleman.  She also is serving but with a very different heart attitude.  She is there against her will mostly, hair bedraggled, on her knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor or whatever other ugly task is at hand.  There is no lightness in her spirit, no joy in service, nothing….just drudgery and duty waiting for her day in and day out.  None of us wants to be the ‘wench’ in the castle!

But how are some of us living our lives?  How are we living out this love affair with our groom?  Do we anticipate each fresh day with him, sitting and feasting with him and then carrying out his wishes with joy and a sense of privilege to be his ‘wife’? 

I know life can be demanding.  Men often have a boss on their backs, weighing them down with heavy demands for more. Or perhaps you are a man running a business with the heavy weight of other lives on your mind, paying their salaries, meeting deadlines and carrying budget constraints.  Wives have the duties of home and family and often of work outside the home, tearing at their hearts and minds.  Single people carry burdens alone that none of us are even aware of.  We all have reasons to be the ‘wench in the kitchen’, just doing our duties but with no sense of joy or privilege or anticipation for the next task.

I think we have to be honest and say, “Lord, have I lost my love affair with you?”  “Have I fallen ‘out of love’ with the lover of my soul?”

Does my life and service to Christ attract people to him, or just turn people off so much that they take one look and say, ‘that looks painful, I’m glad I’m not under those rules and religion’.  Or do we have such a burning passion and love which flows into acts of love and kindness that the ‘others’ in our lives say as the others said in Song of Solomon 6:1

“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?” 

I pray to God that what people see in my life will have them asking, ‘how may I seek him with you’?  A life of service lived with the heart of thankfulness and love for our Master will only attract the others in our lives to him.  But I fear that what they see is often something very different…the word ‘wench’ comes to mind….

The deep affection expressed in the Song of Solomon is reciprocal.  The lover and his beloved are both equally enamored and taken with each other.

What a beautiful picture of the combination of love and service.  Our lover showers us with blessings, love, eternal life, protection, and personal and church family; there are just too many acts of kindness to mention!  And we in return have the privilege of loving him back, spending time with him in prayer, seeking his face and giving our whole lives in joyful service to him!  When we look at all he’s given to us, how can we not give EVERYTHING to him.  How can we not do all we can to express our love for him?  Even if it is things we don’t like to do, how can we not do what he asks after the love he has so graciously showered on us?

“Serve the LORD with gladness!  Come into his presence with singing!  Know that the LORD, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”  Psalm 100: 2-3

I think a key element to remaining joyful and glad in Christ’s service is remaining in love and close to the Lover of our Souls.  But following closely on the heels of that is thankfulness for his love to us.

We must choose to be glad, choose to be thankful and then reap the benefits of a joyful life of service to Christ.

We must deny our ‘rights’ which leads us down a path that is a dead end street.  Live for Christ, live for others and you will find you have a natural side product of joy and fulfillment in your own life.

Remember your first love, remember when Jesus first embraced your heart and saved you from sin and self-destruction.  Meditate on his goodness to you; come into his presence with singing!  Allow him to re-capture your heart.

And the natural outflow will be you, walking in the joy and privilege of serving and living for your heavenly husband!

If we live life this way, the ‘others’ in our lives will say, “how may we seek him with you?”  Now that will bring more joy to you, than you can imagine!! 

Renew your first love and it WILL naturally and easily be a privilege and a joy to serve our beloved King.

With much love,

Lorie