A Life of Service

In recent days the whole world has been impacted by the death of Queen Elizabeth. There have been some amazing television programmes reviewing her life. Many times, we have been shown a clip from the speech she made on her 21^st birthday in Cape Town, when she publicly committed herself to a lifetime of service, whether her life be long or short. The very centre of the Queen’s life was a commitment to serve – both Jesus, the Lord of her life, and the people who were covered by her reign as Queen. She took her coronation vows seriously. More recently she has been quoted as saying that she hoped Jesus would return in her lifetime so she could lay her crown at His feet!

A desire to serve the Lord should be the natural response of a sinner to the Saviour who rescued us from eternal death. Our Scripture for today contains a deeply challenging message. For there is an implied question in God’s word to Jeremiah about the real motives of the heart. God promised to restore the people if they repented, but what would they do with the restoration that God offered them? Would they, perhaps, shout “Whoopee” and dance off to continue living unchanged lives? Or would they, in brokenness and humility, and out of deep gratitude to the Lord, commit themselves to a life of loving service, because of their deep love for the One who had restored them – the One who lifted their feet out of the miry clay and established their lives on the Rock?

There are more challenging words in verses 12 and 13 of Hebrews 4. Here we read that the Word of God judges the thoughts and intentions (attitudes and motives) of the heart. As we watch the many programmes about the life of the Queen, and watch her funeral service on Monday, I pray that many believers will respond to the challenge of our Scripture for today and out of love for their Lord, commit themselves to a life of service. We may not have a physical crown to lay at His feet when He returns – but we don’t need to wait till then, for we can lay our lives at His feet here and serve Him now.

Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God prepared the Queen in advance for an amazing life of service. But here’s the very good news, He has prepared things for you to do as well!