“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,” Ephesians 6:7 NIV
In the passage that this verse is contained in, Paul talks with the Christians at Philippi about behaviors and attitudes. He is addressing a variety of areas from how children should respect their parents to how masters and slaves should interact with each other. The temporal world does things differently than the eternal world. For example, in the economy of God’s kingdom, service is valued higher than being served.
In verse 7, Paul is reminding us that as we perform any act of service in our lives, that we should do it with an attitude that would be pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ. An attitude of grace, mercy, joy and love are important when we remember that we are representing Jesus here on earth. When we interact with others, believers or non-believers, we can keep this in mind.
However, having an attitude that is pleasing to God is not just for when we are interacting with others, but it is how we can live our lives. We can adopt attitudes of grace, mercy, joy and love and exhibit them every day in all situations we find ourselves. Our attitude about service, for example, can be an one of joy, remembering that Jesus Himself served others while He was ministering to them.
The act of service that you are performing does not have to be one that is particularly a joyous occasion but you can not allow that to influence the attitude you have about what you are doing. Keeping in mind that no matter what we are doing, we are not doing it to please those around us but to please our Lord and Savior. He is the ultimate Being we are working to please.
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus to earth to show us how to be people of service to others. We know this world believes that each person should be served by others and if you are the individual serving then you are being used or walked all over. This is a hard concept to defeat at times but please help us to remember that You have changed that idea. Please help us to have an attitude of joy, grace and love as we interact with those arounds us whether they are demonstrating the same attitude or not. We pray this in Jesus’s precious name. Amen