Hard Serve

Hard Serve
By: Pastor Todd Crofford

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
 
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
-Mark 8:31-33 NIV
 
Does anyone else remember the commercial series for Staples that featured the “Easy Button”?  Once the rage was over I bought one cheap at a yard sale and had it on my office desk for a year.  Any time I needed a little nudge I could just push that red button and hear the voice blurt out, “That was easy.”
 
To be honest, when it comes to being a servant, there is a real shortage of easy buttons.  It is simple to say “I want to be a servant.” Living that way presents a lot more challenges.  Of course, as Christ-followers, that shouldn’t surprise us since our Savior’s servanthood was excruciatingly difficult.  So when we sign up to serve, when we jump in to help, when we make a claim that we are ready to go all-in, we should expect that serving will be challenging.
 
Then again, don’t most of the truly meaningful things in life require our greatest effort?  As we serve others, we should be prepared for it to be hard.  It will try our patience, expend our energy, and stretch us thin.
 
So if it's hard right now when you are serving, that is to be expected.  If it’s going smooth, don’t rely on it being that way forever. And whatever is required of you, prepare yourself to suck it up to pull it off, because serving is hard.