The last two weeks we have talked about timidity and laziness being two reasons why we don’t serve as we should. This week we are going to be discussing pride. I believe that the two previously mentioned reasons could also be forms of pride. We are timid because we don’t want to look stupid. That is pride. We are lazy because we believe that our leisure is more important than serving someone else. That is self-centered and prideful. When we don’t serve because we think we have already done enough, we are puffing up ourselves and our works beyond the needs of others.
I believe, if we look closely we will see that many times we serve so that others can see us. We choose to serve in ways that we know we will do well not for the benefit of others, but so that we can feel good about ourselves. We can look back and say “See what a good job I did.” We try to find ways to slip into conversations the service that we have done or are planning on doing. We tend to rate services on a scale of really big service to small service, then we value others’ service based on that scale. Therefore, someone who volunteers at a homeless shelter every week is valued more highly than the person who daily sends encouraging e-mails. This rating system is based on pride. We want to see which service is the most highly rated for the least amount of work (maybe that is laziness, too).
We have been fooled by this worldly standard of service. We overlook those who are giving their last two mites, while trying to make sure that everyone is looking at us while we throw in our few coins. In the reading this week it says “The flesh whines against service, but screams against hidden service.” This brings us to this week’s assignment. I want all of us to try to serve people in a way that others won’t find out about it. It may take some creativity, but I think that if we try we can do it. Maybe someone will find out what you did, and if that happens there is nothing you can do about it. But the point of this exercise is to change our mindset from seeking approval and praise from others to serving in order to become more Godly.