Our Father in heaven wants very much to be an active Father in our lives.

However, He will not control us as though we are puppets.
We hope that the meditations will encourage you to deepen your bonds with Him in this most vital relationship of our lives.

Serving Christ
"If any person desire to serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor."
John 12:26

OUR verse talks about the greatest service of all, namely, serving Jesus Christ. It speaks of two important things about serving Christ. They are the requirement for serving and the reward for serving. Each is preceded by the words, "If any man serve me."

Requirement for serving. "If any man serve me, let him follow me." The requirement is a simple one, for it simply says to follow Christ. But though it is a simple requirement it is not an easy requirement to fulfill. To fulfill the requirement involves at least three things. First, it involves steadfastness.

"Follow" here means persistency, continuation. To follow Christ you must be faithful. It is not necessary to be flashy or famous to serve Christ, but it is necessary to be faithful.

Second, in involves separation. You will have to separate from many things to follow Christ as many things are not following Christ. You will have to separate from many people, practices, philosophies, and places in order to follow Him.

Third, it involves submission. To follow Christ means you go where He goes, not necessarily where you want to go. To serve Him means you submit to His will. You do what He wants you to do, otherwise it is not service.

Reward for serving. "If any man serve me, him will my Father honor." Note that the requirement is stated before the reward. This is the usual case with God's promises.

People like the rewards first. But if you want rewards, you had better give first attention to the requirements. The reward here is honor from Our Father in heaven. This is the greatest reward of all.

When Our Father honors someone, that honor will not be disappointing but will be delightful and will last for eternity.

One of the big problems of mankind is that we are more interested in the honors given by human beings than in the honors given by God. People will often sell their soul to gain the honors from the world.

But all such honors pale into insignificance compared to Our Father's honor. And God's honors do not corrupt like man's honors do.

Prayer:
Father in heaven, Give us the persistency to follow Christ faithfully, and gain Your great reward,
in Jesus' precious name,
Amen.
~ adapted from Daily Bible ReadingSermonettes - 2, by John Butler

See you tomorrow, God willing,
when you'll find a new thought here to challenge you!
Meanwhile, have a great day walking with the Lord!