A couple of weeks ago, we had another of our “Crash Sundays” at church, wherein we cut the sermon short in order to break into small groups and serve in the community.  We visited nursing homes, painted buildings, served food and water at parks, etc.  It’s a great way to worship through acts of service while we serve others, following Jesus in literally offering a cup of cold water in his name.

In our preparations before church that night, I overheard some teasing between one of our staff and a little girl.  The woman was teasing the girl that she was going to be sent to clean toilets that night, and the little girl responded, “That’s not a good fit for me.”  It cracked me up, to hear such an excuse from such a small and sweet little girl.

At the same time, we are quite full of excuses to put off serving or pass that particular buck to someone we deem more suited to serving. 

“I’ll pray about it and see what God leads me to do.”  I think that we need to be in constant communication with God, but we use this as an excuse to avoid serving when we’d rather do something else.  I’m not sure we need to pray about sharing our resources and time with others when the Bible already lays out this dictate very clearly. (Matthew 25: 35-36; James 1:27; Proverbs 14:30)  I don’t need to ask God’s will in regard to taking care of the hungry and needy; He already told me to do it.

“That’s not my spiritual gift.”  It doesn’t require any special gifting to clean a toilet, serve up chicken and noodles at the soup kitchen; play bingo with an elderly woman in a nursing home.  Those believers with the gifts of mercy and helps certainly find themselves more comfortable in these settings, but that doesn’t absolve those with gifts of teaching, administration, etc. from engaging with hurting people in need of God’s love and grace.

“Even Jesus withdrew to rest and spend time with God.”  Before Jesus withdrew to a lonely place to pray (Luke 5:16), he was tempted by Satan for 40 days, preached through the countryside, taught in the temple, drove out an evil spirit, healed many, and called a few disciples.  He worked tirelessly surrounded by hundreds of hurting and desperate people before seeking that rest. We are quick to leap to the resting part and bypass the whole serving part.

When is the last time we dodged serving in an uncomfortable place by using a spiritual-sounding excuse?  Conversely, when is the last time we encountered Jesus and his passion while we were serving someone else?