NEXT STEPS: ServePrøve

WHAT ABOUT THEM? [Illustrations included in this devotional are not visible in this view. Illustrations are only supported in the Bible App for iOS, Android, and at Bible.com] Who exactly are these people that we're 'serving' at church? Why do they need to be served? What are we actually even doing to serve them? These are great questions - and don't feel bad if you've been thinking them! We'd love to explain just exactly what we mean. What we believe is that there is a good and perfect God who loves us. He created us and chose to love us even though we were sinful. We hurt others, we hurt ourselves, we've made mistakes, and yet God still loves us. And when we come to truly understand that deep in our hearts, we begin to experience an unbelievable joy and our lives begin to change. In fact, God's Word says that He makes us into a brand-new creation: that the old is gone and the new has come. However, we also begin to understand that the way that we maybe felt before: hopeless, addicted, weary, depressed, anxious - that there are people who still feel that way because they DON'T know about God's love for them. And so we start to think: because God has changed our lives, if there's anything we can do to help someone else experience that, we'll do it! So on Sundays we have the opportunity to make people feel welcome in church by greeting them, leading them in music, or by teaching their kids about Jesus while they're able to do the same in church. All of these are ways that we serve because we know how God feels about them. We know how He feels about them because we know how He feels about US! This is why we serve.