{"id":48114,"date":"2021-09-07T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T19:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=48114"},"modified":"2021-09-08T13:05:32","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T17:05:32","slug":"serve-one-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/serve-one-another\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Serve One Another (and Why We Should)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why is it important to serve one another? How can we go about doing this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Bible, selflessness is an important quality to have. Learning how to serve one another is crucial for becoming a selfless person, and has the added benefit of improving your mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to find out how to serve one another\u2014and why it&#8217;s important to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Should We Serve One Another?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The way to defeat your enemy of complacency and its lie of self-indulgence is to choose others over yourself, to seek their good over your own comfort. <\/strong>See Jesus\u2019s words: \u201cWhoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me\u201d (Luke 9:23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Choosing to serve one another sets in motion the ultimate positive, upward spiral:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>You choose to serve.<\/li><li>So you take risks for Jesus.<\/li><li>So you begin to see past yourself, to other people\u2019s needs.<\/li><li>So you do things for God\u2019s glory.<\/li><li>So you lean progressively more on his divine strength.<\/li><li>So you feel a deeper longing to worship him.<\/li><li>So your enhanced worship makes you want even more of God.<\/li><li>So you take more risks.<\/li><li>And so on.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a visual showing the negative spiral of complacency and how to reverse it by choosing others over yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/nhdb2TsxbJtYvtQuEHmR-WB-vrkBi-_hViDWig5l7HkEymSbpeLQ_mqmTDm9dO6SM1IKpnCRUL5W1LlmR6dbv2BQ1crkpEOUUyJCrRNS7J41TErwrZc42V-lZtwPQ4tCHHhsBl2w=s0\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Serve One Another<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two primary ways to serve one another, one spiritual, the other practical:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Set Your Mind on Things Above<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The primary spiritual way we can learn to serve one another is to follow Paul\u2019s exhortation in Colossians 3:2 to \u201cset your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.\u201d<\/strong> Go \u201call in\u201d with God. Then you\u2019ll be able to see life on earth correctly as your focus on eternal realities conforms your heart-mind to the truth that you\u2019ve been \u201ccrucified with Christ\u201d (Galatians 2:20) and now live this bodily life entirely through faith in Jesus, for the purpose of serving other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Surrender and Obey<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The primary practical way to serve one another is to <em>surrender<\/em> and <em>obey <\/em>at all times. <\/strong>(Not incidentally, this is also God\u2019s ultimate will for your life.) Surrender your whole life to God. Obey him where you are, in whatever circumstances he places you. Go where he says, do what he says, serve whom he brings. Concretely, surrender plus obedience might look like any number of activities. It could look like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Waiting tables<\/li><li>Building spreadsheets<\/li><li>Standing against injustice<\/li><li>Comforting your distraught child<\/li><li>Cleaning up your messes or someone else\u2019s<\/li><li>Writing thank-you notes<\/li><li>Encouraging a coworker<\/li><li>Absolutely any large or small daily action performed in surrender as an act of obedience and service<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It is only by learning how to serve one another that our gaze will shift and enable us to catch a vision of God\u2019s greater plan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why is it important to serve one another? How can we go about doing this? According to the Bible, selflessness is an important quality to have. Learning how to serve one another is crucial for becoming a selfless person, and has the added benefit of improving your mental health. Keep reading to find out how to serve one another\u2014and why it&#8217;s important to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":36704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,43,24],"tags":[480],"class_list":["post-48114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-self-improvement","category-society","tag-get-out-of-your-head","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Serve One Another (and Why We Should) - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learning how to serve one another has many benefits, including improved mental well-being. 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