Quotes about Service

I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifices to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.

A love which does not prove itself in action is not enough, nor is our natural readiness to please a friend; that is not charity, for sinners are ready to do the same. Jesus

The life of every missionary abounds in crosses," said Théophane Vénard. And again: "True happiness consists in suffering, and in order to live we must die.

Love lives only by sacrifice

It is for us to console our Lord, and not for Him to console us.

For Thérèse, poetry was not "art for amusement," because she did not write for her own satisfaction but out of duty, or at least with a concern to serve, to help, and to encourage.6

Serving brings great rewards, but sometimes those rewards come gift-wrapped in trying situations. Those who lovingly serve others can end up feeling like crash dummies designed specifically to discover the heat, force, and pain tolerance of some new product.

A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34—35)

The one consistent purpose or goal of the public meeting of the church is mutual edification, building each other up in the faith (1 Cor. 12, 14; Eph. 4:11—16). A healthy and committed member comes to serve, not to be served, like Jesus (Mark 10:45); to provide, not to be a consumer only.

Christians are people who are reconciled to God through Christ. As a consequence, we have been given "the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18—21). So, a committed member strives to repair breaches as quickly as possible, even before continuing in public worship (Matt. 5:23—24).

Whether your Christian life began yesterday or thirty years ago, the Lord's intent is that you play an active and vital part in his body, the local church. He intends for you to experience the local church as a home more profoundly wonderful and meaningful than any other place on earth. He intends for his churches to be healthy places and for the members of those churches to be healthy as well.

Some men have gifts but no graces. Others have graces but no gifts. Neither of these are wanted in the Christian ministry. "I