In my last blog post I attempted to show that part of our calling as Christ’s slave is to be “on-loan” to other persons, to serve them. And serving them is equivalent to serving Christ. In his letter to the church at Philippi, the apostle Paul said of his younger co-worker, Timothy, that: “I have no one else of kindred spirit [i.e. the same kind of spirit as Paul] who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare, for they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus“. [Philippians 2:20-21]. Paul declares that the interests of Timothy are the same as Paul when it comes to the needs of other people, and that interest is the same as Christ Jesus, namely being genuinely concerned for the welfare of others.
In his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul mentions in numerous places of his deep concern for the believers in Corinth. Here are a few of those:
“For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort”[II Cor 1:5-6a]
“But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy…” [II Cor 1:23-24]
“Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” [II Cor 11:29]
“I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls.” [II Cor 12: 15]
These are expressions of Paul’s heart-intense concern for the welfare of others. As I mentioned in my previous post, we must exercise some wisdom in how much we expend of ourselves on behalf of others, otherwise, doing so on a no-let-up-basis may result in damage to our soul or health. After a busy day of ministry, Jesus led the twelve on a get-away, saying: “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile” [Mark 6:31 NLT]. Having some boundaries in place is usually a very wise and energy-maintaining approach to enable us to continue to have the emotional, physical, and spiritual strength to continue serving and ministering to others. As has been said, if we do not periodically “come apart and rest awhile, we will, sooner or later just come-apart”. We are each individuals with different levels and capacities, and it is critical that we learn what our limitations are so that we don’t burn ourselves out, causing physical damage to our mind and/or bodies, in our well-intended efforts to serve others as Christ’s slave.
Having some form of boundaries, or keeping enough “margin” in our lives will help us do a better job of going the distance in serving others. This may be nothing but an “ideal” for some who care for chronically ill spouses, disabled children, etc. but seeking to find respite and, monitoring, if necessary, our stress level is essential to avoiding or reducing the risk of burn out or damage. Learning how to politely say “no” to requests may also be essential to enable us to not be overwhelmed with the needs of others or opportunities of ministry. Paul tried hard to get Apollos to go to Corinth to minister there but Apollos declined Paul’s request saying, more or less that it was not a good time for him [see I Cor 16:12]. This passage is important to note that the ‘great apostle” Paul was turned down by a co-worker when requested to go on a ministry mission. Apollos does not indicate he will never oblige Paul’s request, but that doing so now did not fit his schedule.
In summary, we are called as Christ’s slave to serve Him by serving others, and our Lord reminded us to go the second mile [Matt 5:41] but our same Lord told his disciples to “come away and rest for awhile”. Learning how to integrate those principles will help us grow in our service to others without chronically overextending ourselves and suffering sometimes serious damage.
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