Who Or What Are You Serving? - You are serving something …

Who or what do you serve? Your job? Your appearance? Your addiction? A person? Money? Success? Your hobbies? Your possessions? Or God?

Here’s something to think about. Every one of us loves something. Every one of us treasures something. Every one of us worships something.

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

So here’s the question. What do you treasure? What consumes your time, your energy, your thoughts, and your money? What do you get excited about? What do you sacrifice for? Whatever that is… that’s probably what you’re serving.

As I was reading Chronicles this morning: “But the people of Jerusalem will become Shishak’s servants so they may learn that serving me is different than serving the kings of other nations.” (2 Chronicles 12:8 NCV)

Have you ever seen that verse? It’s actually quite intriguing. God had allowed King Shishak of Egypt to conquer Judah because His people had turned away from Him. But notice what God says. He doesn’t simply punish them. He teaches them. “Let them serve another king for a while. Then they’ll learn the difference between serving Me and serving the world.”

So, what’s the difference of serving other stuff vs God?

Well, first of all, the world is a cruel master. Money always wants another dollar. Success always wants another promotion. Appearance always wants another improvement. Addictions always want one more drink, one more pill, one more click, one more hit. People’s approval is exhausting because you can never make everyone happy.

Even work can become a cruel master. You can’t outwork the work. There is always another customer, another meeting, another project, another email, another deadline. There is always more work. These masters never look at you and say, “You’ve done enough. Go home and rest.” They just keep demanding more.

God is completely different.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NCV)

The truth is, if you want to learn how to love and be loved, worship the Master of Love, God. If you want the most out of life, worship the Life-Giver, God.

He certainly makes life better, but more importantly, He is better than life itself. (Psalm 63:3)

If you want peace, worship the One who gives peace. If you need strength, worship the One who strengthens. If you’re looking for the right husband or wife, ask the One who spoke creation into existence to guide you. If you need healing, forgiveness, wisdom, direction, or your life put back together, ask the One who controls every star, every planet, every heartbeat, and every tomorrow.

There is a huge difference between loving creation and loving the Creator.

Can you see the difference? Is He worth your time? Your energy? Your attention? Your money?

The beautiful thing is, God doesn’t need your money. He owns it all. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” (Psalm 24:1)

What He wants is our heart. He simply asks us to faithfully manage everything He has entrusted to us while we’re here. The bottom line is that God is our treasure. Jesus is the one we should worship. We should give total honor to God and His word. We should ask the Holy Spirit for help and strength. He’s real and will help. But you have to trust and believe.

Can you see it the difference? How is this belief showing up in your life?

LORD, help us see. Help us stop chasing masters that can never satisfy and instead treasure the One who created us, loves us, saved us, and gives us life. Open our eyes to see that You are worth our time, our energy, our resources, our worship… You are worth everything. IJNIP ♥️