Dear Spiritual Family,
This week’s message is focused on service and more specifically, service as an act of devotion to God. When Jesus gave us the Greatest Commandment, he told us in Matthew, “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, and with all your mind is the first commandment.” Then he added, “And the second is like to it, love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, hang the law and the prophets.”
To embrace the first commandment, we must embrace the second. Jesus tells us Who to love and how to love. When we seek to serve each other, we too are served. In the process, we demonstrate our devotion to God.
This message hit close to home for us, as we witnessed the incredible destruction of much of the State of Florida from Hurricane Ian. Like many of you, we have family there and on the coastal areas of the Carolinas.
In this video message, we share stories of heroes in the Sunshine State as well as those of dear friends. We continue to be inspired by the selfless efforts of Jordan Thomas and the McLindon Family.
How do we demonstrate love for our neighbors, those close by and those far away? We do so through our heartfelt prayers, our small and large efforts to assist, our encouragements. We make a difference as we give financially and communicate through texts, emails, and phone calls of support.
At the bottom of this piece are websites for some of the efforts mentioned in the video message. And of course, there are others. As the Agape song reminds us, we can humbly ask, “How can I serve today Sweet Spirit? How can I serve today, O Lord? Speak in ways that I will understand. Where You lead me, I will follow; where You lead me, I will go.”
We gratefully acknowledge you and your thousands of acts of devoted service to your family and friends, to your “neighbors,” near and far, over the many years. Let’s join together and deeply feel that gratitude. Let’s be present to God’s Voice as It gently directs us to be It’s instrument of good in this world – the Servant of Spirit that we are all called to be.
We love you,
Rev. Steve and Mary
Websites for organizations/efforts mentioned in the video:
Going Deeper
- How would viewing service as an act of Devotion to God transform your service work?
- Share some of your most memorable acts of service that you have given.
- Share some of your most memorable acts of service that you have received.
We would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.
God bless you. We love you,
Rev. Steve and Mary
Going Deeper on Zoom – Wednesday, October 5
This group meets on Wednesdays from 6 to 7:15 pm CT following a new video message. To learn more, Email Mary McIntosh.
I include in my morning prayer & meditation the request of awareness if I can be of service to someone that day and express the willingness to do so. Service is seeing a need and filling it by my definition. For me, any service work is best kept done in secret due to my ego strength- it tamps my ego down to keep it a secret. I’ve certainly been helped tremendously by other people -especially when my spouse was disabled, couldn’t work but refused to accept his paid sick leave wages at his job. I was able to take care of him and our two small children for a year with zero money coming in. I was taught to determine how well I’m doing if we had a roof over our head, food, clothes and gas in the car. So many people helped me with household repairs. I also was gifted with the knowledge of difference between a need and a luxury.