Receive & Serve

Few days ago one of my friends shared about his personal struggle in loving people (in general). He infact felt that he no longer had love for the ‘people’. I said in my heart then, “yeah I ‘ve been there and have done that”. Quoting John Maxwell here, “having experiences do not make us wiser, evaluated experiences do”. I began to evaluate why Christians usually go through this phase. The most amazing times of our christian journey for most us is usually the beginning. There is so much passion then. A phase of life when tears don’t stop falling from our eyes during worship, praying and reading the word is so effortless, there is so much of love for the people to serve them and help them and we just want to be soaked in the presence of God night and day. The sad part of the story is that as time progresses, the ‘passion’ is gone.

What happens to us? What happens to the freshness? Why does it become so stereotypical?

One of the answers that I figured is that as time takes it toll in our christian walk, ‘maturity’ hits us. Just like a child who learns to be self reliant, we feel as Christians we should also stop holding onto God’s hand and walk on our own. And in this walk of self righteousness, self reliance and pride, we eventually dry out.

The only hindrance in our personal walks with Christ is when we stop receiving from him. And this is one of the side effects of being self reliant. In Luke 10:42 Jesus mentions that only one thing was needful which was chosen by Mary. What we need to learn from Mary’s life (Luke 10:38-42) is to sit at the feet of Jesus and constantly receive from him. Martha was distracted in her preparations to serve Christ. Both of them loved Jesus, one served and the other drew from him. Matthew 20:28 says that the son of man came not to be served but to serve. And we need to allow Christ to serve us by receiving from him. I believe our eyes should be on the receiving part which will in turn direct us to serve. One thing that is needful as Jesus mentions is to sit at his feet and receive from him. 

Samuel Thomas (Sam)

Sam is actively involved in Christian ministry in various capacities. He can be reached on samvthom16@gmail.com  

Welcome Mr President

Former US President Richard Nixon is infamous for his place at the center of  the Watergate scandal. He disgraced both the office of the President of the United States and the United States itself in the eyes of the world. When Hubert Humphrey, a former US vice-president died, Nixon attended his funeral. Dignitaries came from all over the country and the world, yet Nixon was made to feel decidedly unwelcome. People turned their eyes away and conversations ran dry around him. Nixon could feel the ostracism being ladled out to him.

Then Jimmy Carter, the serving US President, walked into the room. Carter was from a different political party to Nixon and well known for his honesty and integrity. As he moved to his seat President Carter noticed Nixon standing all alone. Carter immediately changed course, walked over to Nixon, held out his hand, and, smiling genuinely and broadly embraced Nixon and said “Welcome home, Mr President! Welcome home!”
The incident was reported by Newsweek magazine, which wrote: “If there was a turning point in Nixon’s long ordeal in the wilderness, it was that moment and that gesture of love and compassion.”
Carter gifted Nixon with love and compassion. Nixon certainly had done nothing to deserve it. It was an act of pure grace on Carter’s part. When the bible speaks of God’s blessing it speaks in exactly the same way. Blessing is never a reward for good behaviour. It’s a gift, a gift of pure, unadulterated grace.