Finding the motivation to serve …

I’ve often heard and read that 20 percent of the people in a church do 80 percent of the work.

I’m not sure of the accuracy of that claim, but it sounds about right.

Truth be told, we would rather not serve others. Doing so takes effort, time, resources … and interest. The biggest reason we don’t serve is because we really are not interested!

We know we should serve God and others, so how do we find a motivation for serving that moves us to wanting to serve? Kent Crockett recorded a story in his book, “Making Today Count for Eternity,” that might have an answer to that question …

There was once a married couple who didn’t love each other. The day they got married, the husband handed his wife a list of chores for her to follow. He insisted that she do all the tasks on her list every day. The wife worked hard to accomplish her assigned duties, but she was miserable as she performed them. Ironing his clothes, preparing his meals, cleaning house — every task was burdensome. Although she obeyed all his rules, she never enjoyed a loving relationship with her husband.

Then one day her husband died. After several years had passed, she fell in love with another man and got married. The new husband never required her to do anything, much less a list of jobs. Instead, he showered her with love and did everything he could to make her happy.

One day this wife was joyfully cleaning house when she discovered her first husband’s list of commands tucked away in a drawer. As she read the paper, it dawned on her that she was performing every task on the list, but now she was serving with joy instead of misery. Her love for her second husband inspired her to automatically do the same jobs that her first husband had required. She had served her first husband out of duty, but her second husband out of love.

Crockett concluded the story with this comment: “God wants us to serve Him out of jubilation, not obligation. Legalism adds weights to our work, but love gives wings to our service.”

Yes, we should serve God and others. At the very least, we should act from duty rather than fail to serve at all. But that won’t last, it won’t satisfy anything. Instead, we can let God’s love for us, and His lovingkindness toward us, foster in us a love for Him and others; that love is the greatest source of motivation for serving others you can ever have.

“We love each other because he loved us first,” 1 John 4:19.

“For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do,” Hebrews 6:10.

Are you motivated by love to serve God and to serve others?

Scotty