Three Reasons To Give Thanks Even While Serving

Ready or not the holidays are upon us. Opportunities to serve, host, cook, and clean will become plentiful. After an exhausting year, how can we make it through “the most wonderful time of the year”, and have an ounce of joy left over? Here are three reminders to get you through the coming months with your joy in tact even as you serve those around you.

In Serving We have Fellowship

It may go without saying, but we cannot serve someone unless we are thinking about someone other than ourselves. The tendency when living according to our flesh is to assume that in order to be joyful, we need to pursue that which is self-serving: “me time”, a treat for myself, or things going according to my expectations. The reality is scripture reminds us that our fullness of joy is not found in presence with ourselves, but in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Psalm 16:11 ESV - “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

As we commune with one another, we are able to better understand the fellowship God desires to have with us, His children. Likewise, our fellowship with one another isn’t meant to be a burden. It isn’t meant to be “extra” work. It’s meant to be an overflow of love that He has designed us to express and enjoy organically.

There are some in my family who are introverts and some who are extroverts, yet we all need time alone to re-charge and rest. Even still, scripture emphatically reminds us over and over that a life of joy always includes living life with, serving, and loving others. We can’t do that unless we are with them.

So, over these next few months as families and friends gather, let’s keep our eyes focused on God who desires fellowship with us, and remember that He has declared fellowship with others good.

In Serving We Are Fed

My favorite part about the holiday season, truth be told, are the feasts. As we gather and break bread together, our flesh tempts us to only be focused on our calorie count, however, when we do that, we miss out on the true nourishment that God intends from our feasting.

Throughout the Old Testament, feasting was not just for full bellies, it represented a deeper purpose: remembering God’s faithfulness and His provision. God’s very plan of salvation includes feasting. Take a look.

In Isaiah 25, Isaiah is a prophet declaring how God will swallow up death forever in the end, and he says,

O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure…On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined…He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day,

“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.

This is the Lord; we have waited for him;

let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:1,6,8-9 ESV

Friends, we can rejoice in our feasting with others, even if it’s up to you to do all of the cooking, because it is an act of praise for God’s faithfulness and provision in your life. Feasting does not only include food. In fact, we are also to feast up on God’s Word as sustenance—our daily bread. As we do, remember that it is in the feasting we are truly fed, being nourished physically and spiritually, as we serve those around us.

In Serving We Are Filled

John Piper a reformed pastor and theologian is known for saying,

“God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.”

So, praising God is the beginning and the completion of our joy. When we give thanks we praise God, and that praise fills our hearts and brings us satisfaction.

Piper also reminds us that,

“You can’t love people if you don’t pursue your joy in God, because loving people is the overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others.”

This is where we connect all of the dots. As we serve others, we love them. As we love them, we love God. As we love God, He enables us to love others, and it begins this big beautiful cycle of thanksgiving, serving, and loving.

So, as we walk through these next two months with stressful schedules, extraordinary demands, and joyful gatherings, may we pause and remind ourselves that even as we serve, give, cook, and host, we are also praising God and loving others. May that bring us this lasting joy that we long for and sing about throughout the holiday season.