Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong United’s “Take It All” as you read today’s devotion on serving.

Scripture
“Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Luke 12:37

Observation
Why do managers get frustrated with counter staff? Why do owners get annoyed with managers? For the same reason that masters became angry with their slaves. There is something about being an owner that  changes how all the world looks. The little piece of litter that a minimum wage person can step around, is the same thing that can make Walt Disney stoop to pick up. Owners see things differently.

Success in life comes when we see the world around us with owner’s eyes. When I see my world as my job, my church, my business then my eyes are opened to little things as big things. With owner’s eyes I do not have to be told what to do; I instinctively know what must be done.

There is a cheap duplicate that can pass for owner’s eyes, but it is not. The counterfeit is called “pleasing the boss.” What drives that is a fear of getting in trouble and a desire to please to be rewarded. But owner’s eyes are more than making the boss happy. Their focus is on what is the right thing to do whether the boss notices or not. The danger of living to please the boss is that we will perform when he is  present or when she directs, but out of sight or if nothing is said, performance sags. The greatest danger of all is that the slave would one day become a boss, and having lived all his life to please those above him, now in the place of leadership does not know what to do. We must have owner’s eyes, to see what must be done, even if nothing is said and if no one notices.

Application
How can I get owner’s eyes? By looking to the Lord. If I am doing what I do for the Lord Christ, I will playowner’s above the rim.  It is a delightful promise, that if I serve well, that in turn Christ will serve me. The motivation in this is not notions of resort living, but the thought that my dearest friend and brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, would want to have a relationship with me so close that he would welcome me, the servant, as a guest. That is true friendship from the truest friend I’ve ever known. That is motivation enough for me.

Prayer
Father, this day, I ask for owner’s eyes. I want to see the church I serve as if it were my own. I want to see the people I influence, the actions I take, the plans I make done before you. There are times humanly that I “space off” and I’m not as alert as I need to be. The problem can be before me, but I don’t see it as I should for what it really is. I cannot see, unless you give me sight. So Master, help me to see and serve. I look forward to the days to come when I will be in your house as your guest. There our friendship will grow to new depths because you will find in me a heart that cherishes your interests. I want to serve you today with owner’s eyes so that one day I can inherit the kingdom as a son and a brother and not as a slave. Amen.

This video clip about the value of ink will make you feel wealthy!

Scripture
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

Observation
What is the most expensive liquid on earth? Gas, vintage wine, or pure maple syrup? No, it is printer cartridge ink. If you don’t believe it just watch the video clip above. But what happens when the last precious drops of inkjet have sputtered out? We toss the cartridge away.

That’s a bit like us. Christ followers are filled with something quite extraordinary but we’re still just disposable packaging. When a person says “yes” to Christ do we have any idea of what happens on the inside?

Think of it this way. When I walk into a room I turn on a light switch. A sixty watt bulb gives me a useful pool of light. I’m busy with my work so I do not think of what that bulb is connected to. Wires run from that light to the breaker box, out to the wires in the street, to a transformer station, onto main lines, then to the power grid and into a coal, hydroelectric or nuclear powered turbine in a whirling room of machines producing inconceivable amounts of electrical energy. All I see are watts not megawatts. When I say yes to Jesus Christ what is happening in the reactor of heaven with the radiant Son of God in the presence of his Father, surrounded by angels and believers in a city of light glows inside of me. What is inside of any Christian is extraordinary. Inside a Christ follower is enough hope to outlast despair, healing to overcome disease, faith to conquer doubt, and grace to outlast hurt.

Yet for all this we are quite ordinary. We are fragile clay pots. Let’s put it into words that we can relate to. We are all disposable containers with the shelf life of a Coke can. We really aren’t that great. We are incredibly ordinary. All the packaging and branding known to Madison Avenue cannot change the fact that we are on the way to the recycling station.

Truly great people are marked by their ordinariness. What they speak, write, do, invest, touch, care, pray can be quite exceptional. But when I’ve met the truly great ones I’ve found an honesty with the disposable nature of their human existence. They are cardboard boxes and they know it. The goods in us are of God and all we offer is the paper bag to put them in. When we become relaxed with the faults, flaws and fractures of our lives then the glory of God can leak out.

I interviewed a number of pastors who had experienced burnout. All of them made the same comment. When they returned to their pulpits they were honest about their frailty. Instead of rejection, all of them heard comments from their people like this: “At last there is a preacher that I can relate to.” As much as people are hungering for the exceptional, there is something the everyday person that is so appealing.

Application
I need to be comfortable with my humanity while at the same time expecting the exceptional when God leaks out of me. I am exceptionally ordinary.

Prayer
Father, I cannot even begin to comprehend what is living inside of me. Just like we really don’t have a clue of the geothermal powers at work in the core of the earth just under our own feet, so I really don’t understand what you put into me when Jesus came into me to stay. Help me to be vulnerable enough to let that leak out. So often I want to dress it up to impress others. But I only end up plastering over the cracks that let your light shine through. Let the cracks in my life only make the glory of God more accessible to others. I accept the humanity you have made me with. Help me to be comfortable with my ordinariness in the presence of others so that they can access the glory of God in me. Amen.

Scripture

“Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2

Observation

It was not enough that two pastors walk out on a new adventure. They needed to wear the hand prints prayer left on them from their home church.The request for the prayers of the church do not come from two trembling missionaries. It is God who asks the church leaders to pray for them. The prayers of the church were significant to the Lord because somehow it gave him elbow room to bless these two new traveling pastors.

To many a missionary is just a faded fridge magnet. For about six weeks sent ones are remembered but within six months the memory of their work is run over by the freeway of daily busyness.

But God never lets the memories of missionaries fade. The finger prints of prayer left by praying leaders are like a tattoo residue on a Christian worker’s life to remind the Lord to keep blessing them.

Application

I’ve had many hands laid on me over many years. They were prayers prayed in the front of a service and then life rushed on. If I were to visit those churches now few would remember who I am. Yet from God’s perspective the residue of their prayers still lingers on my life. I am a sent one representing many churches that have sent me. I trust this day that the prayers prayed will be answered through my life in blessing many, many people.

Prayer

Father, remember the prayers prayed for me over many years. Remember the prayers of my ordination. Remember the prayers at my wedding. Remember the prayers at churches I have left that have blessed me. Today let me see the answer to those prayers. Amen.

The lives of Ray and Margaret Belesky with simple, biblical truths transformed over 60 teenagers who lived in their mansion home called Bethel, as well as scores of pastors and wives, including me. They improved everyplace and everywhere they went and now are enjoying heaven. Margaret’s last words on this earth were, “How is everyone? Have you had something to eat?” She was improving lives until the end.

Scripture

What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
it will become a place of refreshing springs.
The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
They will continue to grow stronger,
and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.
Psalm 84:5-7

Observation
I want to make this world a better place.
With a pathway traced
Not with footprints
But with improvements
In lives refreshed
And wilted things flourishing.

I don’t want footprints in the sand
I want to leave behind puddles in the desert
To show where God showed up
To refresh the weary.

But that will not happen with my
Gusto
Good intentions
Or get-up-and-go.

The octane of this journey is “strength” that “comes from the Lord”.
Because we can be more enthusiastic than we are empowered
And more committed than we are surrendered.

Mind you
I must have the road map not just in my mind
But in my heart.
This decision to move on toward a better place must be thought through.
This is not the Travel Channel
We’re hitting the road
And the road will hit us if we haven’t already inscribed the journey in our souls.

But the strength comes from the Lord.
That’s why Ezra started his journey to Jerusalem on empty
With hungry stomachs
Because there is fuel from the Lord
More important even than breakfast.

Application
Today I chose strength beyond myself
And may my path be like that of a river in the desert
Whose trail can be discerned
By the strip of green
Through brown and weary places.

Prayer
Father, please strengthen me for the work that is before me. Let my life be an ice chest full of Gatorade to re-hydrate the weary where the water does not flow. Amen.