Living in Increase (Part 12) - Increase in FocusSample

Serve and Your Purpose Will Follow

This week, we’ve learned that purpose is God-focused. It’s loving God, loving His people, and bringing glory to God through worship, fellowship, and obedience. God gave us unique gifts that only we have. God has prepared you for your purpose in every moment. He has put opportunities in your path to provide skills you will need, and He’s allowed you to experience circumstances that will lend you credibility in your purpose. God also implants dreams and desires within us to lead us to our purpose. What better way to thank our Lord for His sacrifice and gift than to serve others with our gifts?

Accepting Christ as our Savior makes us part of a higher calling. We are called to be good stewards of our time, money, and resources. Part of successfully finding your purpose is to steward the gifts God has given you. What’s important is ensuring that you’re operating within your gifting. Serving is one of the best ways to refine your purpose, and you must serve with the gifts and talents you’ve been blessed with. For example, serving in the student ministry may be mentally exhausting and socially challenging if you are an introvert. God will direct you into positions aligning with your purpose as you serve.

Many churches operate primarily off volunteers serving each week, and as Christ’s followers, we are called to serve our church. Understanding your gifts and personality will help both you and the church find the right area for you to serve.

However, serving is not limited to the walls of the church. Serving can be within the community, at work, at your kids’ school, at local shelters, or just helping others around you. Our primary function as Christ’s followers is to serve the church, but it doesn’t stop there. God wants us to serve outside the church, where we can use serving as a form of evangelism to the lost in our everyday lives. For example, if you are an energetic person who loves people, you may serve the church as part of the welcome team and be a team mom for your kids’ football team. If you are great with arts and crafts, you may serve the church, help with seasonal decorations, and serve outside the church, teaching kids from low-income families how to create arts and crafts to sell. If you’re a good cook, you can bring dishes for the Sunday volunteers and cook for your local shelters.

Every church and every community has a place for your gift to be used. The greatest misconception about serving is that it has to be a weekly item on your to-do list. While God has called some to serve weekly, He has called others to serve through teaching seasonal bible studies, putting together yearly events, or other tasks needed in the church, but not necessarily a weekly commitment of hours a week.

Lastly, when you serve and operate in the role of your purpose, remember that “Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). Too often, serving is done for self-seeking affirmations or words of praise. When we serve to seek recognition for our works by men, we often end up with church hurt. Serve for the glory of God as a form of worship for the gifts and talents He has given you to fulfill your purpose.

In the search for your purpose, serving is a crucial next step. It’s the best opportunity to share the gifts and abilities God has given you and truly experience them. Doors will open to your purpose, people will be brought into your sphere of influence, and God will work with a speed of favor and in mysterious ways that only come from Him. By giving your time and talents, God will reward you with blessings that can only come through serving. The people you serve will bless you as much as you are a blessing to them.

Lindsey Whitney

Action Step: Take an online spiritual gifts assessment, or see if your church offers one as a part of its assimilation process, to know where you’re gifted to serve. Find a way to use those gifts!