This little excerpt is written by Laurie Beth Jones, author of Jesus CEO. It's entitled, HE SERVED THEM:
Most religions teach that we are put here to serve God; yet, in Jesus, God is offering to serve us. Picture the shift in thinking. Old Testament mentality looked at humanity as being indebted to God, trying to find countless ways to please God. And then along comes Jesus, who says, "He who sees me sees the Father." He even goes to people and asks them, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The writer continues-Some people are shocked at the inference that God serves us. Yet Jesus did just that. He asked people how could he help them. This is scandalous!
Jesus served without a fight. He wasn't looking for anything in return. Many times after healing someone, he would tell that person to go their way quietly without making a big production to attract attention. Isn't God amazing? He doesn't go for all the fanfare and noise and attention like us. God is God and that's all. No need to prove anything. When you know who you are, you don't have to make a lot of noise, proclaiming your identity.
Jesus did all these things without a fight because he was coming from one power:LOVE.
To love is to serve. And God is love.
Well, after reading this, I was blown away because it challenged what I'd been taught about God. The God I grew up hearing about wasn't too nice and if you failed to walk a straight line, He'd get you (pop you upside the head or something). Let's just say, I was taught that you didn't mess around with Him because He could take you down with the blink of an eye. Although I heard countless times about how loving He was, those words meant little because the truth was that I was afraid of Him. I had to make sure I did everything right or else KABLAM!
Yet, the gospel is all about Jesus doing good- healing, comforting, blessing, partying with the chief sinners and feeding folks for free. Scandalous!
And this serving thing is not about looking for God to be Santa Claus or cause you to suddenly win the lotto. I believe it's more about God touching your life deeply, profoundly, bringing healing to those broken down places within you, mending your broken heart, drying your tears, fixing things in your life that you thought were unfixable(my own wording).
Jesus's touch, no doubt, turned people's lives completely upside down. They were never the same again. This is the kind of serving God does. He will serve you right on into a brand new life.
Peace
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All I can say is WOW! Your words remind me that God - who we have been taught some many aspects of - never was the God I felt in my heart as a child. I too was taught His love was conditional, based on my good deeds and "keeping in line." Yet, the God who would whisper endearments to me about who I was and what I meant to Him was vastly different than the one I encountered at church. Thank you for pointing out that He is so much more vast than we could ever imagine!
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