Free to Serve

A very good morning to all of you! I feel we had a wonderful worship service yesterday as we had the Emmanu-El youth here to share their presentation along with our own youth. Let us continue to support our youth with prayer and encouragement.

Text: Exodus 3:7-22

When we consider the Exodus experience and how God miraculously delivered and freed the Hebrew slaves out of the powerful clutches of the Egyptian empire, we may often get caught up in the amazing miracles or simply in the fact that the Hebrews were no longer oppressed as slaves. We do (and should) praise God for His mighty acts and we do (and should) rejoice that God set the slaves free. The question I'd like to reflect on is: Why did God set them free? And what for?

We know that God had established a covenant with Abraham and based on that covenant, God was fulfilling His provision and care for His people. He desired that they be a free people. But once free, then what?

And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." (Exodus 3:12)

The word in Hebrew for worship can also mean "to serve". When we hear worship many times we think immediately of a worship service or a style of worship. However, taking the Biblical message as a whole, "to worship" and "to serve" God is a daily journey. Worship does not end at noon on Sunday; service to God does not end at 5:00 p.m. It is an ongoing journey. As disciples on the road to a lifestyle of discipleship, we must look beyond the superficial aspects of "worship" and "service". How we conduct our selves at home, school, or work reflects how we worship and serve God. How we speak to our family, friends, neighbors, or strangers can reflect how we worship and serve God. What we set our minds to can also reflect how we worship and serve God.

As we set out to begin the week, let us be ever-mindful of how we are worshipping and serving God, and let us indeed serve Him with whole-hearted devotion.

Prayer: Lord, I come to you in praise and thanksgiving. You are the reason I live. Your faithful love for me is my strength. Give me resolve to worship and serve You in all I am, do, and say. In Your name I pray. Amen.