:: In.a.Mirror.Dimly ::

I’m wired to connect with people who struggle with anxiety. Anxiety has been one of my greatest struggles.

I once had an anxiety attack while pitching during a baseball game in Jr. High. I threw every pitch a foot above the strike zone. It only grew worse as the other teem jeered me and even my own coaches quietly mocked me—just loud enough that I heard it.

Since then anxiety has shown up as an unwelcome guest in my workplace and my relationships. It’s a poison for marriages that are supposed to thrive on trust. One day God broke the power of an anxiety over my life, and since then I’ve discovered that almost any time I serve somewhere and mention anxiety, there’s someone else struggling with it.

Helping others break free of anxiety’s burden has given me more joy than I could have imagined. It’s one of the ways I’ve been able to serve others, and like most other forms of service, helping others becomes almost addicting.

Yesterday we looked at some bad reasons to serve others, so today we’ll cover some good reasons.

We Pass God’s Blessings on to Others

It’s a good thing that God heals and blesses us, but that’s not the end of it. Like a cup that is filled up to provide drinks for others, God “serves” us with his blessings so that we can share them with others. As in my own story, it’s often quite powerful to pray for someone who is struggling in the same area where you have been healed.

We Lose Focus on Ourselves

Let’s admit it, when we become consumed with ourselves, our feelings, and our goals we eventually become miserable. Every slight and every set back becomes magnified into a full scale tragedy. “How could this happen to ME?”

Serving others frees us from the enslaving power of self and frees us to enjoy the ways we can help others. 

We Fulfill the Reason Why We are Here

God could have raptured you to heaven the moment you chose to follow Jesus if life was all about finding the right answers and filling in the blanks. However, God has left us here to complete the work that Jesus started. That includes serving others.

We Have the Leading and Power of the Spirit

God doesn’t ask us serve others out of our own resources. That’s like trying to start a business with Monopoly money. Jesus promised that his Spirit would enable us to do the same work as His own, and even greater works.

That promise keeps me up at night sometimes. If that really is the power Jesus promises us, are we claiming it and using it? If I’m not using it, then why not? I hope that I can embrace the possibilities of this promise and let it impact the way I relate to others. I will pray the same for you.

Taking a Leap…

Do you struggle with anxiety? While everyone is at a different place and God works in different ways for all of us, I believe that in the long term God does not intend for you to continue living under its power. While I’m not an expert in all things anxiety, I have received some healing from God in this area, and I would like to share it with you.

So here’s the plan, either leave a comment (it can be anonymous) or drop me an e-mail at edcyzewski (at) gmail (dot) com. Let me know where you’re at with anxiety and how I can pray for you. I’ll pray for you this week and drop you an e-mail to touch base.

Tomorrow’s Post: Some ideas for serving others.

Next Week’s Series: I’m toying with the idea of posting a 5-minute retreat each day. Stay tuned for more.

Yesterday I discussed some reasons why Christians fail to serve others. I’m following that post today by addressing some bad reasons for serving others.

I can think of a bunch of bad reasons to serve others. As important as it is to step outside of ourselves and to meet the needs of others, we could end up exhausting ourselves serving for the wrong reasons.

Guilt

It’s easy to say, “We should not serve out of guilt,” but identifying the feelings associated with guilt that drive us is a challenge. Are we worried about what others will think of us? Are we fearful of what God will make of us?

Guilt keeps us insulated within ourselves—serving to alleviate a personal fear or obligation. It prevents us from seeing others and disconnects us from the gifts and passions that God has given us. In fact, guilt distracts us from the guiding voice of God’s Spirit altogether. When we lose sight of those we are serving, we can do a great deal of harm to them.

Undirected Obedience

We can know in our heads that we ought to serve others, and then take action out of obedience. However, are we truly living in obedience to God if we just latch onto the first chance to serve others?

While we may do some good in this way, we will be more effective, fulfilled, and in relationship with God if we first figure out where God wants us to serve and how he wants to channel our skills and desires before jumping onto something.

We should not confuse action with obedient action. The latter discerns God’s leading and then acts accordingly.

Spiritual Credibility

In Matthew 25 Jesus made it abundantly clear what his followers would do: feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and visit the sick and imprisoned. I’ve had to search my own heart as I explore ways to follow this picture of faithfulness that Jesus painted. Am I serving from a God-given burden or out of a desire to appear spiritually credible?

These are fine lines I’m drawing, and I would never point at someone’s service and accuse them of this. I’m basing this last one largely on my own experiences of wanting to be faithful, but also feeling that selfish tug in my own heart to appear more authentic or whatever.

I sincerely believe we can do the right things for the wrong reasons and make a mess of them. Though followers of Jesus face challenges, their calling is one that is characterized by joy, love, and peace, which are all things that don’t mesh with serving to prop up a facade.

Tomorrow’s Post

So now that we have an idea of why we shouldn’t serve, tomorrow I’ll dig into some good reasons to serve others, including the important role that service plays in the normal Christian life.

Today I’m beginning another installment of my Christian Survival Guide: Service. The first post addresses reasons why we don’t serve others:

I have an embarrassing story to share from my college days. I don’t think I’ve shared it with many people—perhaps only my wife.

While studying abroad for a semester, every student was assigned a service project. Many of them involved serving in small groups, but for some reason I wasn’t assigned a project right away. Eventually I received a note saying that I was supposed to volunteer as a computer volunteer at a local nonprofit.

It didn’t seem urgent, and so I put the note aside. Then I forgot about it.

With a few weeks left in the semester, I remembered the project, but I was embarrassed that I’d forgotten about it. I didn’t know how to approach them, and so I chose to do nothing. I took the lazy way out, not wanting to make myself look bad for forgetting.

Instead I felt awful for my blatant laziness and pride, which wasn’t exactly part of my original plan.

Laziness is but one reason of many that we fail to serve others. I can think of plenty of other reasons why we don’t serve fellow Christians or those outside of the church:

Busy

Some of us are legitimately busy with children, work demands, or everyday chores. Finding a concentrated chunk of 60 minutes to think straight seems hard enough without jamming in service to others.

However, I think it’s easy to just say, “I’m busy” without critically examining what keeps us busy. Are we tying ourselves down with the unnecessary in some cases to the detriment of service to others that could meet real needs and actually leave us feeling more fulfilled and energized?

Ignorance

I can safely say that ignorance has been my biggest excuse for not serving. You mean to tell me that Jesus didn’t come just to serve me? Tacking on service to Christianity feels like a bait and switch when I was reeled in thinking this was all about saving and fulfilling me.

Christianity, in many of its American forms, has also become something that happens in our heads and not in our hands and feet. Even if we know that we should serve in theory, we also may not know the benefits of serving. 

Information

There have been times when I did take serving others seriously, but then had a hard time finding the right places to serve. What are my gifts? What do I care most about? What opportunities are there that match my gifts and passions?

The most well-meaning Christian can struggle finding ways and places to serve.

Priorities

As in my situation where I let laziness and my own embarrassment override my opportunity to serve, we can let priorities such as our own comfort or goals override opportunities to serve others. When I look back at myself eleven years ago, I’m most troubled by the way I reshuffled my priorities in such a selfish way.

Tomorrow: While we’ll eventually address why and how we should serve as Christians, we’re going to follow today’s post with some reasons why we shouldn’t serve. For all of the good reasons to serve, there are some bad reasons that can mess things up for ourselves and those we serve.

After participating in a variety of church meetings over the years, I wanted to share a little theory I’ve been working on based on some experiences, some ongoing thoughts, and some conversations. I don’t want this to devolve into whining or castigating everyone who doesn’t meet whatever my standard may be.

I’d like to offer these thoughts as four goals for every church, not as judgments of what we are or are not doing. These are things that are worth pursuing. I’d like to know what you think of this and whether it may help us sharpen our focus as we gather together.

I think if a church can do these four things, then it’s on track with the Kingdom of God and the general trajectory of scripture:

Worship

Worship is the one thing that we know churches should do. Sometimes our worship veers a little too much toward our own experiences of God, but it is important for Christians gathered together to worship God first and foremost. Jesus is the head of the church, and therefore we enter his presence with the praise and thanks that he is due. Worship can take place in music, spoken word, prayer, or other acts in community.

Fellowship

Whether fellowship with God and fellowship with one another, churches should be drawing near to God and in the process of meeting God they will find their unity with one another. Not every church that worships God authentically moves into fellowship with God, but it is often the aim of most churches to both worship and to meet with God when they gather.

Transformation

While it’s wonderful to have fellowship with God and one another, meeting God should push us toward the next step of allowing God to transform our lives, to free us from sin, and to empower us to live holy lives. Fellow believers have the important role of building one another up and making sure that we leave our gatherings with greater freedom and in deeper commitment to God.

Service

When we meet our God who transforms and empowers us, the next logical step is to join him in his work among others. This could include serving fellow believers, but should not be limited to that. The church that meets God and experiences his healing power needs to be willing to share it with others. If that’s not happening, then we need to ask why.

Final Thoughts

I think most churches try to do at least two or three of these things well, but all four are necessary for our communities to become outposts for God’s Kingdom. When we talk about why we gather together as Christian communities, I think these are the four categories that should drive our prayers, thoughts, and plans.

Each piece flows from the other. If we’re missing one piece of this, we aren’t fully embodying the Kingdom of God in our churches.