Serve With Total Commitment

We've all heard stories about those incredibly brave U.S. Navy SEALS, but have you heard about their daring helpers—their fearless four-legged recruits?

Canines often play a significant role in military operations as they can crawl into small spaces, find enemy soldiers and report back unnoticed with TV footage from a camera attached to their heads. Their primary functions "are finding explosives and conducting searches and patrols," Maj. Wes Ticer, a spokesman for the United States Special Operations Command, told the New York Times, but Ticer said that many times dogs save "the lives of the Special Operations Forces with whom they operate."

The NYT reports that according to Gen. David H. Petraus, commander of United States forces in Afghanistan, that dogs are useful because “the capability they bring to the fight cannot be replicated by man or machine.”

The thing about these wonderful servants (dogs) is they seldom receive praise (except for maybe some extra biscuits), but you'll never hear them complain.

Do you complain about your service for the Lord?

Serving God requires total commitment. The Lord God has worked in each of us a desire to serve Him, right? Wasn't that what we said when we declared our faith last year, five years ago, ten years ago, thirty years ago? Isn't what we keep saying when we profess the faith of the church each Sunday morning? Aren't we all collectively, and each personally, saying that we are bound and determined to serve the Lord, and to fear Him on account of His saving work in Jesus Christ - a work that reaches up till today?

Yes, we want to serve this God who has done so much for us, but how does one serve Him? As Josua said to Israel: "serve the Lord in sincerity and in truth." First, to serve God "in sincerity" means that there may be no swaying between two gods, no wavering, no hesitating between serving God and another - whoever that other might be. This means that there must be a whole-hearted, 100% dedication to God.

Secondly, the term Joshua uses, translated for us as "truth", denotes the idea of being immovable, unshakable. Here is the concept of standing solid in the face of pressures. So it describes the person who can be counted on to remain resolute in his service to God despite temptations from the devil, the world and even one's own flesh. This is the person who has the courage to serve God sincerely through thick and thin.

Both terms together, imply a service that doesn't care what others say; no matter the changing circumstances there remains that single-minded, whole-hearted devotion to God with all one's heart. What Joshua commands here is what Jesus later said in response to the question as to which commandment was the greatest. Jesus said:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Mt 22:37).

But wait, that's not all! God wouldn't have us despair in the face of our brokenness. God has granted to us a man who could serve God with that needed sincerity and truth. In His infinite grace to the unworthy, the Lord has caused His only Son to become man, and this true man has served the Lord with perfect obedience, never transgressing a single one of God's commands, never sinning in any way, shape or form.

Yes, even when this holy and jealous God poured onto Him His terrible wrath against our sins, even when this God deserted His Son and handed Him over to the powers of hell, Jesus Christ did not sin; Instead, He continued to "fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth." The blessed result is that the Lord God in heaven accepted the sacrifice of His Son, and in Christ He sees us as righteous, and innocent!

Verses: Matthew 4:10; Matthew 6:24; Luke 1:75; Luke 4:8; Luke 16:13; John 12:26; Acts 27:23; Romans 6:6; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 6:8; Colossians 3:24.

Prayer:

Lord, you call us to your service and continue your saving work among us. May your love never abandon us. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. In Jesus' name, Amen.

-thanks to Rev. C. Bouwman

Bless you always,

Sandee