“I want to do my part for the hive but I can’t do it the way they want.”  ~Barry Bee

From “Bee Move” starring Jerry Seinfeld.

Sounds like my personal slogan…..

The story of Mary and Martha is found in Luke 10) where we see Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus as Martha was working on meal preparations for her distinguished guests. When Martha expressed her frustration about Mary’s lack of assistance to such matters, Jesus replied, "Mary has chosen what is better…" This does not imply that Martha's work to serve the meal was wrong but Mary had chosen to spend time in the presence of Jesus, listening to Jesus' words and teaching.  One is left to speculate if Martha had gone overboard in her efforts but clearly she was distracted by her service and unable to enjoy her the company of her special guest.   Jesus pointed out that Martha was "worried and bothered about so many things" and missing the "good part." Simply put, she needed to rearrange her priorities.

I am convinced that acts of service to the church, community, etc. must come from a deeply personal and passionate relationship with God.  From this place we come to know and understand His love for people and our service will flow naturally from our heart.   I heard a preacher say that there are lovers and there are workers and that it is the lovers who get more work done than the workers. Why?  A passionate lover always outperforms a good servant.

What is it about us as individuals that compels us to serve the "church" but not the "kingdom"? Does that thought shock you? Am I saying there is a difference?  Is not serving the church and the kingdom the same thing? Well, yes and no.

Most churches operate with a few paid "professionals" (pastors and staff) and an army of volunteers. The resulting situation is that the church professionals are forced to operate in a “recruiter” mindset because of the ever-present need to fill the empty slots on the roster and maintain the smooth operation of the church machinery.

This is not wrong, in and of itself, but I believe we have erred along the way.

We get so caught up in serving the church that we forget WHO it is we are actually serving. Our service to the machine becomes more important than our relationship with Christ. Many times we become PRIDEFUL as we tout our committee involvement, our years on the elder board, our years of membership, etc.  It becomes more about US and the Institution.

We have traded the BEST thing for a GOOD thing and I believe that church leadership is complicit in this (albeit somewhat unwittingly). While it is necessary that we serve the local church we must never forget WHO it is that we truly serve. We must have right priorities and it is subtle how we can shift.  It must begin with our personal relationship with God, then family matters, then the daily encounters, and, last but not least, service to the church....