Yes, Serve Him. But Do Not Forget To Bow Before Him.

Service to the King becomes dead religion without relationship.

Luke 10:38-42

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

• I can admit, I spend a great deal of my time serving the Lord with all that I have. And yes, it is good to serve Him with our entire being. But I am also learning that it is critical that we take just as much time to sit at His feet and be in His presence, or we may end up facing a hard reality (Matthew 7:21/23). If we only make our walk about serving, but not knowing Him, then this is no different than what the Pharisees did in their error. It becomes no different than all other false religion.

• The single most important thing for a follower of Jesus to obtain in their walk is relationship. If one does not have actual communion with their Lord and Savior, their Creator, their God, then they ultimately have dead religion and putting on a show to keep appearances. I have experienced burnout from this at times during my walk, as well as deep connection with God while homeless, in jail and in some of the worst moments where I didn’t expect to find Him. He is always faithful.

• At the end of the day, in order to serve God well, we must know Him as well as we can on this side of eternity. We must take the time to sit with Him and listen to what He is actually saying, and to be obedient to what He is leading us into for His glory. We do not seek to do good things that He may ‘love us more’, but that we may do good things well BECAUSE we first took the time to be in His presence, to listen, to learn and to grow.