Back when I was a young mom, I struggled a lot with guilt over not being able to serve God as much at my church as I felt like I was “supposed” to.
There were always needs for volunteers in Kids Ministry on Sunday mornings, needs for volunteers in the Awana program on Wednesday evenings, needs for volunteers for VBS. There was Trunk-n-Treat which needed volunteers. There was the Easter Kids Pancake breakfast which needed volunteers. etc. …
There were always ministry needs. And I never had the strength to help much.
I tried. I really did. I gave everything I had to serve in the “Blessed Beginnings” ministry – where we hosted Bridal showers and Baby showers for these big life milestones of couples in the church. But it took more out of me than I had to give. I would often wind up coming home in tears, due to utter exhaustion.
The same was the case when I served for one year helping in childcare for MOPS (Mom of Preschoolers). I really enjoyed being with the kids … but almost every week I would wind up driving home with tears rolling down my cheeks from utter exhaustion.
Then I read a blog post from a young mom (back when blog posts were still a new and novel thing). This mom was also struggling with guilt over feeling like she wasn’t serving God as much as she was “supposed” to. She shared in her writing about how it reached a point that she would spend all her time and energy to make a nice meal to take to a family in need … then not have anything left to make her own family a nice meal. In exhaustion she would pull out breakfast cereal to feed her family for dinner, because that’s all she could do.
It was at this point God convicted her that she had it all backwards. God showed her that when she was loving and serving her family that was serving him. Every bit as much as “serving God” at church. God showed her that her family was a ministry … every bit as much as the ministries at church.
This lady’s insights had a profound impact on me!
It helped enormously to see that when I gave my time and effort to love and serve my family … that was serving God. Every bit as much as “serving God” at my church.
When I spent my time doing laundry so my family could have clean clothes … that was serving God. Every bit as much as “serving God” at my church.
When I labored to prepare healthy meals for my family … that was serving God.
When I didn’t have time or strength to volunteer for the church ministries, because I was using my limited time and strength to love on my own family … that was serving God.
This lifted the perpetual guilt I was always feeling over not being able to “serve God” like I was “supposed” to.
When we love and care for those whom God has specifically given to us to love and care for … this is our service to Him. And if there is time and energy left over to do more, great!
God gives everyone different amounts of strength, energy, and stamina. A lot of people can “serve God” a lot more than I can. God has only given me a small portion of strength, energy, and stamina. So, I love my family first … I love my people well. This is what God calls us each to do. To love our people well.
“If I have the gift of prophecy … and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” – 1 Corinthians 13:2-3
(The lighthouse pictured here is Point-No-Point Lighthouse. I chose this particular lighthouse for this post because … if we know everything there is to know about the Bible, but we don’t love our people well … what’s the point? If we go to church services faithfully and consistently our entire life, but we don’t love our people well … what’s the point? If we’ve read bookshelves full of theology books, but we don’t love our people well … what’s the point? If we do good deeds and acts of service for the needy, but we don’t love our own people well … what’s the point?)
