40acts: The Lent Generosity ChallengeSample

Jesus always served others with humility. But for us, serving others is more appealing when it looks glamourous or offers immediate results. How easy is it for us to serve when it requires us to get our hands dirty? 

Being obedient to God sometimes means doing what isn’t pleasant or comfortable. If we can humble ourselves to do the not-so-nice things, God can use those moments in significant ways, just like this: 

Here I am, knocking on doors on a wet Saturday in South London…

Surely there must be some more strategic way to serve the Lord, some better use of my talents?

I hope that this next place doesn’t have a dog. I hope they don’t start swearing at me again. I could really use a cup of tea. 

Oh good, Stefano is in. I did some shopping for him last week because he can’t get out anymore. He asks me to help unblock his sink and whilst I set about unblocking we get to talking about the faith he left behind as a kid, and why I still believe in Jesus. 

We open up the Bible and I show him how it is reliable, how lots of the prophecies about Jesus really came true. I talk about God’s personal love and suddenly he is crying and asking me to pray for him. 

Before he died, Stefano invited all of his friends from the estate to our local church and he told them his testimony. At his funeral there were enormous numbers of well-wishers who were deeply impacted by the faith Stefano had found in the months before his death.

My idea of what is strategic and what isn’t strategic is different to God’s. We trust in a Saviour who left heaven to be a carpenter in Nazareth to save us. 

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 Find more about today’s 40acts challenge on our blog:   

https://40acts.org.uk/act-16-dirty-hands/