Are You A Clock Or Candlestick Servant?

If there is one thing I love it is animated movies.  Disney is one of the best.  My parents raised me well and prepared me for a life with kids.  Robin Hood.  Aladdin.  101 Dalmatians.  Jungle Book.  The Little Mermaid.  Beauty And The Beast.  The Lion King. And that’s just a few of my absolute favorites!  But there is one thing that they all have in common (outside of Disney, animation, stolen stories, etc.).  They all have exceptional music (probably why I was so disappointed with The Princess And The Frog).  Song after song. Movie after movie.  They all have amazing soundtracks.

In my preparation to become a father of enough kids to watch these movies for the rest of my life, I already have some of the songs on my iPhone.  Yesterday a song from Beauty And The Beast called Be Our Guest came on during my evening commute.  (Imagine with me if you will a guy in a Jeep Wrangler with the top down and doors off driving through Orange County listening to Be Our Guest at full blast.  Ha!)  I have heard the song a million times but a few of the lines hit me this time.

Life is so unnerving for a servant who’s not serving
He’s not whole without a soul to wait upon
Ah, those good old days when we were useful
Suddenly those good old days are gone
Ten years we’ve been rusting
Needing so much more than dusting
Needing exercise, a chance to use our skill

Obviously if you have seen the movie they are servants in a castle who are going to waste and not using their talents.  What hit me, though, is that so many of us (Christ followers) are just like that.  We have amazing gifts and message that we have been given.  We start out strong, but something happened a long the way, we got distracted and stopped being a servant.  We start viewing Christianity and the Church as something that is for us (consumers) and forget that following Christ is a call to serve!

When we became Christ followers we were given gifts of the Spirit and called to live our lives in service to those around us.  Jesus gave us the example to follow throughout His life.  Some followers understand that and are living it out, but many of us have forgotten that.  What about you?  Are you really serving those around you?  Are you really loving them as Christ loved us?  Find a way to serve.  Greet at church.  Mow a lawn.  Change a tire.  Hang out at a nursing home.  Love your neighbor.  Follow the example of Christ to serve.

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.

Galatians 5:13-14