Image Credit: https://stacyjross.wordpress.com/tag/motivation/
I believe that God is experienced through Service.
Serving others and those that God brings our way is a sure way of
experiencing God. True service is an expression of love. If we love, we have to
serve. This could be in a variety of ways depending on the context. When a
couple serves each other, they experience love. When a parent serves a child
and vice versa, it's a show of love. When you truly serve your community be it
people who are at different levels and class, senior or junior to you, the
motivation has to be love. As we know, by loving others, we demonstrate that we
love God. Service could be actions, time, words etc, whatever we offer to
others as an expression of love.
We serve God by serving others. We give to God by giving to others. All
these are a demonstration of love if they are done in truth and spirit. It's a
perfect way of worship to God. Since God is love, the only way to really
experience love or God is through service to fellow mankind. Service to mankind
is service to God.
We are told that faith without works is dead. Through works, we serve
others and hence demonstrate the love of God. Service is not only limited to
what we may consider to be “religiously acceptable” acts. We need to offer
service in the market place, by building and transforming our country. God has
called us to join Him is transforming our communities through service, love and
with Him.
We have heard people all around us use the statement “a servant leader.”
In my understanding, there can’t be any leadership without service and also no
true intentional service without leadership. So to me, it’s like our teachers
would discourage us from using the statements “repeat again.” Anyone committed
to bringing forth transformation which is the essence of leadership cannot do
it without serving or being a servant leader. Without being with the people,
listening to them, walking the journey with them, helping them see and
experience what they would otherwise not have experienced by themselves,
liberating them, is transformational. It’s what leadership is all about. This
is what God has called us to. Calling yourself a leader and yet you are not
serving people, is occupying a slot which can be occupied by anyone. A life
that doesn’t yield any form of transformation is a wasted life. A venture or
course that doesn't bring forth personal or community transformation is a waste
of resources. Why call yourself a leader yet you are wasting your time and
wasting the people around you.
In order to transform, I believe the starting point is to serve. You
can’t only be so much focused on bringing transformation, and you fail to
serve. You fail to identify where your people are and build a bridge for them so
they see the transformation you would like them to experience. You have to show
them the "how," and that is service. From 2008 to 2016, I spent my
life and passionately engaged in a community program in Kawangware, Nairobi,
Kenya. This program had a mandate of providing hope to the young men in this
community. I worked with a lot of young men. They came and went. Others
transformed others didn’t. In all these, what was revolutionary or stood out
for these young men was the service they received. Be it from the people who they
interacted with or me. This touched their hearts. They appreciated a level of
love and care because they were being served by people who believed in their
potential. Instead of only telling them how the future is great and has a lot
in store for them, they were shown love by service. They experienced the now;
the present. Love is experienced in the present, not in the future. If you
serve me now, hence love me now, I will stick around and work with you to
experience what the future holds for both of us.
In doing all these, if you serve with joy, the benefit is mutual. The
love is mutual. The transformation is mutual. If you intentionally serve with
pleasure, your service is meaningful. Hence the people around you experience
God in a way they will never forget him. They might forget you, which is okay,
but they may never forget God because you served them with joy and pleasure.
If
this resonates with you, commit to serve those you come into contact with
intentionally. Look for a small community of friends who you can learn to do
this together with. Being accountable to a
few and practicing with a few. It’s about building a community of friends to
share each other’s journey of leaders who serve. You have to be deeply committed to each other
and desire to see each other grow in this journey. You have to create support,
encouragement and accountability platform for each other. The community has to
be as small as possible so that there is active engagement by all involved.
Find a
community around you and see if these conversations make sense to you…
By Gabriel Achayo.
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