I’ve been there before. Someone corners me in the church hallway, I say “corners” because, at this point, I’ve spent a good part of my walk down the hallway avoiding eye-contact for fear that this question will come, and asks me to help with something.

I would like to be known as the Proverbs 31 woman, the Titus 2 woman, the admirable church woman, but I would like to earn the reputation of one devoted to good works while putting a minimal amount of effort into said good works. So when I see the person coming towards me, when the clipboard to sign-up is passed my way, I’m ashamed to admit that I pass it off with a simple, “Let me pray about it.”

Now, there is a time and a place for exercising spiritual discernment and seeking God’s will on exactly where you need to be serving. But whether or not you need to be serving isn’t a question. We are called to serve.

We are not called to simply fulfill an occasional obligation in the church nursery or to think charitable thoughts at Christmas time. We’re called to generously serve because we were extravagantly served. Christ humbled Himself, came to Earth as a man, and offered His life as a sacrifice on our behalf. That’s the example given for us to follow.

“But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” -Mark 10:43-45, ESV

We are called to serve. As Christians, we aren’t excused from serving for more spiritual things, service is actually one of our primary callings. We should be horrified that there is such a need for believers to step up and be the hands and feet of Christ. The example given by Christ isn’t minimal good deeds while hiding behind self-care and the over-spiritualization of trying to find an excuse to avoid good works.

As believers, our lives are meant to be poured out in service for each other. We aren’t meant to hold part of ourselves back or offer leftovers, we are meant to pour our lives out at the feet of God in service to Him and one another. Our lives are supposed to be a living sacrifice for God.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” – Romans 12:1, ESV

Our lives, our time, our bodies are not our own. They are meant to be offered at the feet of God as a sacrifice.

So let’s stop pretending that we need to pray when we need to serve. Let’s truly give our bodies and lives to God and outdo one another in signing up to fill the slots in the nursery that need to be filled. Not for ourselves, not for the sake of busywork or our reputation as a good church woman, but as an act of love for our Lord.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” -Hebrews 10:24, ESV

We are called to good works. Let us continue to encourage one another in these good works, in service to one another, as we walk through our lives. May we outdo one another in being willing to step into the lowly, humble places. Our lives, may they be poured out as an act of worship in loving service to the Body of Christ.