Living a Life of Love and Service

I gave this speech a week ago on Thursday the 11th at my school on the last day before the break(12/11/14)! I gave it because the board of directors allowed me to and I asked to do it plainly because I love public speaking and because I felt God had something that he wanted me to share!I don't know if I ended up getting that message to the ears that he wanted to have hear it but I hope no matter what, that he was brought glory through it! So here is the speech! Enjoy!!

Living a Life of Love and Service

 

Hi everyone! So what if I were to tell you that today was your last day on earth? What would be your response? I think we would all respond a little bit differently, but the truth is, is that Jesus is returning for his people soon. We don’t know when he is returning so It could be at any time. The question then becomes, if we know that Jesus could return soon, then what is it that God desire for us to do with the remaining time that we have here? There are two topics that I feel God has laid on my heart. One we must love one another and two, we must serve one another because this is a part of love. The importance of the unity in the family of believers is extremely necessary, now and especially in the future. And above all, through doing these two things, we being God glory and obey one of his greatest commandments. Serving and loving other people can be a hard thing to do, but what if the relationships that we establish through loving with others effect how we will end up viewing and facing the catastrophes that will happen in the end times?

 Love. Why do we always hear so much about love? Churches talk about Jesus love all the time, but why so much? And what does love have to do with the end times? First let me define end times, I mean the period that the bible talks about in Revelation when even we as Americans will be persecuted and put through trials because of our faith in God. It will be like something we have never experienced before. We are going to need love and strong relationships with our siblings in Christ in those times. Why? Because fellowship with others will provided us the strength we will need.  We are entering the end times now. Let me give you an example. Most of my childhood, I remember not being able to take part in many activities because I couldn’t walk well. My best friends would go to play tag outside, but I could never play with them. I was different from them and I accepted that. I felt alone a lot and unwanted and I would pick certain guys and tell my girlfriends which ones I thought were cute just so I could feel that maybe one day, one of them might like me back. I began to wonder, why? Doesn’t anybody care about me? Doesn’t anyone see me here alone? I felt that there was no one there to help me. To love me. To remind me of my importance, to remind me that a king of a great kingdom had died for me so that I wouldn’t have to be lonely anymore and without a friend. God has shown me what it’s like to feel unexpected by your closest friends. This is a small example of what it may end up being like for some if we aren’t willing to reach out. It’s not until you have felt unloved that you desire to have love and acceptance. What about you? Have you ever felt unloved? See, if we feel unloved, we feel unwanted, if we feel unwanted we feel worthless and if we feel worthless, we think nobody cares about us and if nobody cares about us then what’s the point of sticking around? I understand. I’ve felt this way. Its not easy being a little person all the time. Everything seem so much larger than you and you begin to wonder if the world even notices you but what I’ve learned, is that through this two things could happen. Either we give up on ourselves and our lives or we find our love and acceptance in God. We can help one another avoid that path of desiring to get rid of our own lives by loving each other. Through loving each other, we feel Gods point one another to the ultimate giver of love, God. Satan wants us to destroy our brothers and sisters in Christ and we can do this either by saying things that tear each other down or by not saying anything at all. This is something that we see a lot in our world every day. We are warned in Galatians 5:15, “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” If we don’t build each other up and love the people around us, then we won’t have any strong Christian relationships with others as the day of Christ return draws near. In Hebrews 10;24-25,”And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Not all people agree on whether or not Christians will be here through the tribulation but we need to keep loving on each other and strengthening each other no matter what. God has gifted us with relationships that we don’t deserve but since we have them, we should strive to make them relationships that will glorify him. We need to love and one another more. First, because God commands us but, second, because who are we going to have left if we never pursue and strengthen our Christian relationships? God gave us each other. We weren’t created to do life alone. That’s partly why you aren’t the only one here.    

So if we are commanded to love each other then we need to know what this love look like. There are thousands of ways to love a person. Personally, I have preferences in the ways that I demonstrate love to others but physically serving people is definitely not something I ever look forward to doing. I have a very difficult time desiring to do something for someone if I’m not very close with the person or if I’m not familiar with the type of job I’ve been assigned. I think we have all been there. Here is what we must understand though. Service and love go hand in hand. This is why we must understand the importance of love while learning about service. These two go together. If you serve but don’t love, it’s pointless. If you claim to love but your actions never show it, what good is that? 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 states,” If I speak in the tongues of angels and men but have not love, I am only a resounding gong. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 john 3:18 says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” You can’t serve someone whole heartedly if you don’t love them and you can’t claim that you love if you refuse to love through your actions also. Galatians 5:13 says,”You my brother, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” When we serve each other, we remind one another that our God is living and real, and this is something that we need. When we love and serve others, the world watches us. Through obeying Gods commandments, we a beacon of light on a hill. Other people will see that light and draw closer to him. As Jesus said, all men will know that you are my disciples if you love on another. We must love and serve one another because we as Christians are going to be the only thing left on this earth giving off light in the darkest days. Many of us don’t like to serve others especially if it’s outside of our comfort zone. I don’t but God commanded us to love. Part of love is service. Jesus gave us a perfect example of a life of love and service when he came and died the way that he did. so he doesn’t just command us to live this way, he lived this way.  To set an example for us. When it comes to the service activities that we don’t want to do, think about Jesus. He sacrificed everything still remained faithful in everything that he did. This should challenge us to strive to be more faithful in all tasks we are given just as he was faithful in all tasks he was given.  Another perfect example of a life of faithfulness is the wife of the famous reverend Billy Gramm. While her husband preaches around the world to thousands of people, she does her part for Gods great kingdom by taking care of things around her house. She is determined to stay faithful in her field of work while her husband also remains faithful in his. It can be hard to want to love and serve when we don’t want to have any part in something that we must do. We must remember, we do it because God commands us to and because it will help strengthen our relationships with other Christians. Colossians 3:12-14 states, “Therefore, as Gods chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive them as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”  

 So if you knew tomorrow, Jesus would return, would you be proud of the way you have lived your life? Do you feel like you have strong relationships with other Christians? Is there anything you wish you could change? This world is going to try to pull us a lot of different ways. To get us off the path that God desires for us but God tells us to love one another. The ability to love the people around us, is an amazing gift from God. We can either use that gift to strengthen ourselves and others and bring him glory or we can reject and destroy them. That is up to us. We need love in the family of the body of believers because if we don’t, we will never make it through the roughest days that we will face in life. God will always walk with us but he also designed it for us to walk through it with other believers. In Romans 13:8 we are told,” Owe nothing to anyone except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” The days that are to come and that we live in now are like nothing the world has ever seen. God is the creator and giver of all good things and he gave us relationships with one another as a gift so they should all be lived in a way that would bring him glory.  But it is up to you now. So would you serve others any differently today and would you love others any differently today if you knew our world was going to come crashing down tomorrow? Thank you!