Community Service

14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

I thought this was a great verse for today. Yesterday our church did something different for church on Sunday and cancelled service. Instead we spent the morning serving our community in a couple of different ways. It was a blast. We all had a good time- the kids included and got to show God's love in action.

I wanted to briefly point out verse 16 here. "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." You'll notice that it doesn't say anything like let your light shine so that your good deeds may be recognized. Or do good deeds so that you may be glorified. We do good deeds and good works so that God may be praised and glorified. So that someone can look at our work and see that God has blessed us with the ability to serve. It has always bothered me when I do something for church or at church and I get recognized for it. That's not why I serve. I like to think that service can be contagious. Kind of like that movie Pay It Forward. That maybe someone will see me serving (or in this case, our whole church) and get inspired to serve themselves.

There are certainly rewards for serving. The joy in my heart alone yesterday made the work worth it. But then to see my children serving with a happy heart was almost overwhelming. It was wonderful to see the smiles on their faces as they helped paint benches and pick up litter. Yesterday was a great experience. It really was rewarding to serve our community, and I hope we have many more opportunities in the future to do so. I also hope that others will see our example and will serve in whatever way they can.