Next Monday at the U.S. Open Tennis Championship our own Andy Roddick and Venus Williams will be serving their best on the courts competing for the championship trophy. I start with tennis because of the play on words with a serve and this week’s focus is serving others. What are our motivations in serving others? Who gets the glory … you, another, God?
Serving for the benefit of others is uncommon but genuine. Let me encourage your family to have open discussion with your teen regarding the motive of serving. This will be especially helpful for a teen that might not immediately see the blessing of serving without expectation of a mutual benefit. Young children are much quicker to participate in such an act of kindness because they know it is a good thing to serve others. Certainly not all teens fall in this pattern.
Today, more than ever, youth have a strong desire for social action and justice. Be careful that your unguarded words do not disqualify your serve with words like, “they never appreciate it” or “they are so ungrateful.”
I love it when cabins at Camp set the table or clean a table for another cabin, when they find ways to serve them in cabin clean up or another kind gesture. It is fun and biblical to serve with a heart that wants to simply bless another. It is awkwardly good to be on the receiving end of such a humbling gesture. It reminds me of the tv commercial where one kind deed prompts/stimulates a chain reaction of kind / helpful deeds. You can use these scriptures as boundaries and springboards to improve your serve, volley, and ground strokes in being a blessing to others: Matthew 6:2-4, Colossians 3:17.
Comments
very good tis time of year when our family is trying to decide what social programs to get the kids in. Thanks Debbie
MY son Judah Owens told me to get my son Jordan who is in 8th grade into a bible study at TbarM. How can I do it?
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