Serving God has really been on my mind lately. I think maybe because its that time of year at church where we have elections for new positions for the church year. But serving God is a year round duty. Its not one I take lightly. So its one I have been thinking about a lot here lately and its made me ponder several points.
I saw a sign on a church the other day that stated: Service to God is how we pay the rent on our home here on Earth. I got to thinking about that. and for those of us who are Christians, I feel this is true. God gives us a beautiful place to live, complete with four seasons, a beautiful sunrise and sunset daily, rain, rainbows after the rain, animals to keep us company, friends to help us through life, and two families, one we are raised in and the one in the church He puts us in. He gave His Son, to settle our sin debt, calls us to salvation, saves us from hell, all for free, but as such, we are supposed to do one job for Him, and that is to spread the word, lead others to Him, and LOVE our neighbors.
Some people are saved young, and some, like me, are older. So in reality, all the VBS's, and church dinners, and things I did prior to being saved were just good works. So actually I have only served God for not quite 4 years. There are others who got saved young, so they may have 20-30 years of salvation on me, maybe more, so does that mean that they have more accrued years of service on me? Does God keep a service record kind of like the government does, with points per year, so that after a certain number of years of serving God, we can retire from service?
Sometimes I feel like I need to really work hard, serving in every capacity possible because I feel like I wasted a lot of years I could have served. So I volunteer for everything under the sun, wanting only to serve and help God. In part of my service I ask others to volunteer to serve in one capacity or another. In some occasions I get the response of "I already did my time, let someone else do it." So it occurred to me that people have the attitude that after so many years of service to God, they can, in a sense, retire and spend the rest of their time "pew sitting" and letting everyone else work. But I have yet to find the scripture in the Bible that backs up this mindset. John was an old man, when he was on Patmos, and wrote the book of Revelation. He had been exiled, but yet, even after all he had done over the years to spread the word of Christ, he was still obedient and wrote down the vision that he was given. He served God til his dying breath. He could have easily had said, "sorry God, but I did my duty all those years ago, when I started churches, and traveled, and wrote the letters and books that You gave me to write. I just want to sit here on this island and relax. Send this vision to someone else." But, thankfully for us, he was obedient, and did what God wanted.
Our salvation never ends, so how does our service to the One who saved us end? Yes, salvation is a free gift, and nothing was asked in return for it, but we who are saved are supposed to bear fruit, and be anxious and ready to serve God. Its kind of like the story in the Bible about the ten lepers. Jesus cleansed them all, but only one came back to thank Him and worship Him. I think a lot of people can be that way as well. God saves them, and they go on their merry way and live their life, never once thanking Him, or serving and worshiping Him the way He deserves. They come to church, get saved, and then are never seen at church again.
So my question is: what is the retirement age of serving God? How many years do you have to serve before you can just sit on a pew for the rest of your life and consider your debt to Him paid? If you work extra hard, and volunteer to do a lot can you apply for early retirement? If you jump in there and meet your quota of leading people to Christ, can you get exempted from having to work later? If you work in the church nursery while your kids are young, are you exempted as soon as yours are grown? Or could you still help watch over the children of the church so that their parents are free to listen and grow? If you taught Sunday school for 6 years, does that mean you no longer need to do anything? I have served in many aspects over the short time I have been serving God, sometimes very actively, and other times in a smaller aspect, but in all I do, I serve Him to the best of my ability, according to the calling He has given me. Sometimes He calls me to do much, and other times, He gives me smaller jobs, because I need a time of growth or rest. But I have never thought about taking a season off, or that I would retire, this side of heaven. Because I think that our job never ends. God gives us free will, to serve or not to serve, but I don't want to stand before Him one day, and have Him look at me with disappointment and say, "Beckie, you did great in the things you did, but you could have done so much more. I never wanted a pew sitter, I wanted you to do My work on earth."
This may sound preachy, and that isn't my intention. And I really want to know how others feel about this. Maybe I am wrong, but I don't think so. Everyone talks about the crowns we will have in Heaven, complete with jewels as our rewards for the things we do for God. I do not serve God expecting rewards, I do it because I love Him and am thankful for all He has done for me, and saved me from. But, if your works for God are the jewels in your crown, what do you think your crown is going to look like? I know some who are going to have these super tall crowns, so sparkling with jewels from all they have done, that it will be blinding. But some, I am afraid, are going to have crowns that look like the ones you get for the kids at Burger King, gold colored fold around paper, because they didn't feel the need to serve the One who created them, and all they have.
I figure my crown will be small, and somewhat plain, and I figure my mansion will be small, but thats okay. Its not about crowns, or mansions, its about serving God here on earth, so that when I stand before Him, He is proud of all I did. I will serve Him until I draw my last breath here, and see Him face to face, because that is how I read the Bible, as it being a life long job.
