Serving God

The Bible makes it clear that when a person is in a real relationship with God, they will serve God (see Luke 4:8). It’s always been God’s intention to make us like His Son, Jesus (Romans 8:29). When we look at Jesus’ life, there’s no denying that He was a servant. Jesus’ entire life was centered on serving God—by teaching, healing, and proclaiming the Kingdom (Matthew 4:23). He came not “to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). Then, on the night of His arrest, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, instructing them to serve one another: “I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (see John 13:12–17).

The Bible offers several motivations for our service. We want to serve God because we are “receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28), because our service supplies the needs of the Lord’s people (2 Corinthians 9:12), because our service proves our faith and causes others to praise God (2 Corinthians 9:13), and because God sees and rewards our labor of love (Hebrews 6:10). Each of these is a good reason to serve God.

Genuine service cannot be separated from love. We can go through the motions of serving God, but if our hearts are not in it, we’re missing the point. First Corinthians 13 makes it clear that, unless our service is rooted in love, it’s meaningless. Serving God out of a sense of obligation or duty, apart from love for God, is not what He desires. Serving God should be our natural response to Him who loved us first (1 John 4:9–11).

We can give away only what we’ve first received. The reason we can love and serve God is that He first loved and served us through Jesus Christ. The more we are aware of and experience God’s love in our own lives, the more prone we are to respond in love by serving Him. If you want to serve God better, the key is to get to know Him! Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal more of God to you (John 16:13). When we truly know God, our natural response is a desire to love and serve Him in return.

—GotQuestions.org