Service, Change, and Investments

I've been thinking a lot lately about service. As a Christ follower, I know I am called to live my life in service. I am called to invest my life in people and show Christ's attitude to them.

So why is it that so often we hear Christians talk about being comfortable? I hear it a lot in college. "I don't want to go to church here because I'm not going to live here after college anyway. My church home is way better than anything here". I don't understand this statement. As Christians we are all a part of One body, saved by One God. I understand having a home church body, but why be so close minded to the rest of the church body? Wouldn't this be a great opportunity to be unified with other believers? Isn't this the time to explore new relations?

Especially at my school, it is pretty common for one to find his spouse in college. College is the time of change, new experiences, new investments. That's the way I view church. I go to build relationships for the rest of the three years I'm here. I have no idea where I'll be after college. Kansas isn't a top priority for me, that's for sure. But where would I be three years from now if I never got out of my comfort zone and never got established in a church body?

In a chapel service recently I was challenged to invest in people. The speaker reminded me that we cannot take anything we own or anything we create in this world to heaven. Nothing. But people go to heaven. And what if we invested in people and those people were able to go to heaven? He challenged us to invest in people in the unexpected times. Serve people fully when they come to you. Seek to meet needs of those around you. Who are we to be so self-focused?

This is why I am seeing the importance of church. I know I can learn so much from the people around me and I am so excited for the three years of learning I can do just by attending a church nearby. And from there I am choosing to be involved. Why? Because God calls us to service. He doesn't say "hey you won't be there for awhile, so you're off the hook!"

So maybe I don't have all the answers. I don't know what I'll be doing a few years from now, who I'll marry, how I'll serve, or even where I'll be. Something I hope to learn is how to serve others in my every day life. The book "The Power of Serving Others" challenged me with the type of mindset I should be having to others. Humble yourself to be able to say to people: "I see you. You matter...being ignored, or unseen is a terrible disease. Feeling unworthy is another one" (72). It is my prayer that I can put this thought into action not only for the people I already have relationships with but in my everyday attitude.

One last quote from Frank E. Peretti that challenges me to grow: ""Comfort can be a dangerous thing. You stick around home all the time where it's safe and nothing ever changes, and before you know it, you get set in your ways and you quit learning, you quit changing, you don't grow anymore."