Serving...with a Selfish Heart

Serving. What is serving? What is true serving for Christians? How do you know what is true serving? How can we, as Christians, differentiate between serving with a loving heart and serving from a selfish motive to made one look good?

This topic came from today's church sermon by Jeff Hatton, the pastor of my church, Redeemer, in Waco. He took his sermon from Galations 5:13-15, prefaced by Galations 5:1.

 ¹For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

                                                           -Galations 5:1,13-15 (ESV).

So, in the service, Jeff talked about loving each other, by serving your neighbor. And then my friend asked me about being selfish when serving. Because she definitely didn't want to play a animated game with a young boy she was babysitting for 3 hours, but she did because the boy loves the game and my friend loves the boy. So, of course she was going to serve his family and him by playing 3 hours of this game.

Serving with a begrudging heart is different than serving with a selfish motive. So what then is a selfish motive?

I believe a selfish motive would be the heart desire to do something that makes you look good to the eyes of men. This is not loving your neighbor as yourself. This is loving your reputation and image more than yourself as a person with a wish to love your neighbor as yourself. 

In verse 13 of the Galations passage, the word "opportunity" is a militaristic word in the Ancient Greek text (Jeff Hatton). It means the start of an assault. As Christians, we must look for that opening, but to serve our neighbors through our love for them.

This, I believe, is true service. I don't think that it is bad to have a reluctant heart when serving, but I do think that it's bad to serve with only the thought to better yourself through the service. 

This is a shorter blog post and I apologize for it. I just want to thank all those who read my blog. It makes me very happy to hear that people like to read what I have to say. :)

My quote for the day: "For every man, there is a purpose which he sets up in his life. Let yours be the doing of all good deeds" ~Robin Hood, BBC (as portrayed by Jonas Armstrong).

The Best Day of my Life....so far! :-)

Thursday night, February 3, 2011 at 10 o'clock at night, snow fell down from the sky in Waco, Texas and actually stuck to the ground. Let's just say I was a little excited. Okay, that's the understatement of the year. I was very excited.

Friday, all day, February 4, 2011, I woke up to the text and email that school was canceled. I made plans with my friends to meet them for lunch and then took an hour nap. Saving my energy, that's how I put it. At 11 o'clock, I met all my friends for lunch at Brooks on the Baylor campus. It was the best. My guy friends, Charlie and Matt, asked me a question about what makes a man, besides the physicality aspect.

What makes a man a man is being a protector. Protector of his girl, his female friends, his family, his reputation, everything. That's what makes a man a man. Because I see it in all my guy friends and in my brother and my father. They all have this protective spirit that will go above and beyond to protect the ones that they care for. But it's a different sort of protector than the girls have. The girls have a protective motherly spirit which wishes to care for their loved ones when they are sick or hurting. Guys protect their loved ones from the bad men and bigger things than illness. That's what makes a man a man.

So after that deep conversation the whole group: Matt, Brett, Charlie, Davis, Cameron, my best friend, Kara, and myself all walked over to Collins Parking Garage where we proceeded to throw snow balls at one another. We were expecting several others: the 411 girls: Sarah, Caroline and Cassie, Matt's girlfriend: Laura, and my other guy friends: Andrew, Jerry, and Trent. My other best friend Jamie was coming too. It was going to be epic. The first group planned an ambush on the second group, unfortunately, it kinda backfired on us.

Anyways, my accomplishments that day were: whitewashing Brett "New England Style" (I learned best from my Uncle Vernon), several headshots on my guy friends (they were hard to get because they moved all the time) and whitewashing several other of my guy friends like Charlie, who I adopted as my "older brother", Matt, who's also like my brother, and my friend, Jerry. Okay, so I got all three a couple times. I couldn't really get Cameron, because he's so tall, but I did get him in the ear several times. He complained that I was the only one who got him in the ear. I highly doubt it.

So after we are all worn out from the snowball fight, we went back to our respective homes to dry off and reconvene to watch Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, one of my all time favorite movies/books. We watched it at my friend's, Jerry's house. To be totally honest, I nearly fell asleep because I was so tired from the epic snow ball fight. After eating at one of the best pizza places in Woodway, we went back and hung out at Jerry's place.

Jerry read to Matt and me the first chapter of this book that he's writing. It was very good. I was very impressed that there was that much feeling and pain just in those words. It made me want to cry. But I hate crying so I didn't end up crying. Plus I swore never to cry in front of my guy friends. One, it confuses them and they don't know what to do with it. Two, I hate crying in public because I hate appearing weak. I know, it's a fault of mine.

Then we went to a late showing of The King's Speech. The movie was amazing. It was well done, and the actors were brilliant. There was British humor, which is my favorite. British humor is dry and very very subtle, so you have to catch it the first time, or else you feel dumb when it's explained to you. But the movie was very good. Colin Firth did an amazing job, personifying the Duke of York, or King George VI. Geoffrey Rush was his speech therapist, Lionel, and Helena Bonham Carter as George VI's wife. It was absolutely fantastic and you should go see it.

After this long, wonderful day, I managed to climb the stairs of my dormitory and fall into bed, thinking of what time I had to be up before I had to be up for dance rehearsal for Baylor Dance Company ( which does not perform at Basketball games. That is the Baylor Dance Team, and it quite different. )

Thinking of Lord of the Rings, always makes me think of this quote by Samwise Gamgee. The character says this quote at the very end after the Ring is tossed into the fires of Mount Doom and all hope for the heroes seem lost because they are trapped in the fiery wasteland with no hope of escape.


"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something... there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for." ~Sam Gamgee

My Favorite Song: I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme) by John Rzeznik

I am a question to the world
Not an answer to be heard
Or a moment that's held in your arms

And what do you think you'd ever say
I won't listen anyway
You don't know me
And I'll never be what you want
Me to be

And what
Do you think you'd understand
I'm boy, no, I'm a man
You can't take me
And throw me away

And how
Can you learn what's never shown
Yeah, you stand here on your own
They don't know me
'Cause I'm not here

[Chorus]
And I want a moment to be real
Want to touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong

And how can the world want me to change
They're the ones that stay the same
They don't know me
'Cause I'm not here

And you see the things they never see
All you wanted - I could be
Now you know me
And I'm not afraid

And I want to tell you who I am
Can you help me be a man
They can't break me
As long as I know who I am

[Chorus]
And I want a moment to be real
Want to touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong

And how can the world want me to change
They're the ones that stay the same
They can't see me
But I'm still here

They can't tell me who to be
'Cause I'm not what they see
Yeah, the world is still sleepin' while I keep on dreaming for me
And their words are just whispers and lies that I'll never believe

[Chorus]
And I want a moment to be real
Want to touch things I don't feel
Wanna hold on and feel I belong
And how can you say I'll never change
They're the ones that stay the same
I'm the one now
'Cause I'm still here

I'm the one
'Cause I'm still here
I'm still here
I'm still here
I'm still here

Life Lessons behind Taylor Swift and Legally Blonde the Musical

"This chip on my shoulder makes me smarter and bolder. No more whining or blaming, I am reclaiming my pride. Grab that book and let's do this, instead of doodling hearts all through this. Now, there's a chip on my shoulder. Let's see him knock it aside." - Elle Woods, Legally Blonde the Musical.


"'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
You're gonna believe them
And when you're fifteen, don't forget to look before you fall
I've found time can heal most anything
And you just might find who you're supposed to be
I didn't know who I was supposed to be at fifteen." - Taylor Swift, "Fifteen".


Life lessons behind country chick songs and a musical that surprises everyone. Who would have thought that Legally Blonde the Musical would have something to contribute to some of the most important life lessons in my personal life. This excerpt is from the song "Chip on My Shoulder." It's the self-motivating song that I use whenever I'm trying to work through studying or through a NYT report. 


When I begin to give up, I remember this line: "With the chance I've been given, I'm gonna be driven as hell. Though, I can't take the day off, I just think of the pay off. You need a chip on your shoulder, Little Miss Woods comma Elle!" This line is from the same song and Emmett sings it. It definitely gets me through whenever I think of my mom and dad giving me everything I need in order to get through college. I am forever grateful for the chance I've been given.


From the Taylor Swift, it applies to all girls and even some guys. We've all gone through that first heartbreak. And trust me, it sucks. But you have to keep going through life, but you do have to look before you fall. My friend, when she listens to this line, always says, rather loudly, "I thought I did!" I thought I looked too, but I can't thank God enough for being a divine sovereign God who doesn't let us fall too far. He will also point me in the direction that I need to go in order to find out who I'm supposed to be.


That line is also a very good line because we never know who we are at 15. We might think we know who we are, but we don't. I'm still trying to figure out who I am and I'm turning 19 in 23 days. I have a general idea of where I want to go and where I want to be in 4 years, but I don't know who I am or who I will be. College changes you. Believe me. I was not as extroverted in high school as I am now. Finding out who you are supposed to be takes more than high school and college. It might take my entire lifetime to figure out who I am as a person and who I want to be and who I want other people to see me as. But as long as I never forget Whose I am, I think life will be all right.


You helped me find my way
There's still so much to learn
So many dreams to earn
But even if I crash and burn ten times a day

I think I'm here to stay
I'm gonna find my way
-Elle Wood, Legally Blonde the Musical "Find My Way"

A Cold Day

So today the high temperature was 26 degrees, according to wunderground.com. All I wanted to do this morning was to turn off my alarm, roll over and go back to sleep. But no, all school in the area, including the community college, were closed, except my university. The ten minute walk to the science building from my dorm was reduced to seven minutes. There's only one explanation. It was cold. It was flipping cold this morning. When I returned to my warm dorm room, I got to see my roommate before we both had to leave for lunch. She laughed at my cold wind-burned face. 


At lunch, my friends and I were all sitting at a table and my roommate called me. "It's snowing!!" She said. I walk over to the glass door. "It's not snowing," I replied. "Look carefully!" Sure enough there were little flakes of snow coming down from the overcast sky. Sure, it wasn't a snow flurry, and certainly not enough to cancel classes. But we can always hope. 


But the cold weather definitely doesn't make me want to do anything except sit curled up with my books and read. Although I feel that my brain is frozen, I think I can still get some reading done. :)


"And the choice we make at these moments define us for eternity" - Robin Hood BBC