The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Opportunities To Serve"
"I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember Thy wonders of old" (Psalm 77:11).
Our son Noah's fellow Marine, team leader and friend, Sgt. Foster Harrington, was killed in 2004, while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. During a family gathering yesterday, I asked Noah to share a memory of Foster. "In the Marine Corps, we stress servant leadership," said Noah. "The further you progress in your career, the more opportunity you look for to serve others. Foster was the classic example of that."
What a legacy Foster paved in Noah and his fellow Marines' hearts, and in ours as we remember his service and sacrifice. And what an example to follow. I am reminded of the source of all servant leadership, and of One who, like Foster, sacrificed His life to serve:
"As the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 28:20).
The Christ who dwells within the hearts of believers ever looks for opportunities to serve. He did this in His earthly lifetime, and He continues His devotion to others as He spiritually walks in us, and as we "live through Him" (II Corinthians 6:16; I John 4:9). No greater peace arises within us than the fulfillment of heart we know when taking opportunity to serve God and others by self-sacrificial attitude and action. We were made and born again for this. As the spiritual temples of God, we exist to reflect His character, nature, and way of unselfish devotion to others. The bells of our spirit ring only as we walk accordingly, even when the sacrifices of our service lead to much challenge in soul and body.
"Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all" (Philippians 2:17).
Opportunities to serve. I am grateful for Foster and his sacrifice. Surely we are all grateful for the sacrifices made by those who have served to preserve the sanctity and freedom of our nation. Most of all, we give thanks for the Source of all self sacrificial devotion to others. The Lord Jesus graces us with the privilege to "walk, even as He walked" by empowering a life of devotion to God and others (I John 2:6). What will that involve in this day? As we open our eyes to the possibilities, the Holy Spirit will lead us to find them, revealing in us the joy our Savior Himself knows by service and sacrifice.
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
(Philippians 2:5-8)
Weekly Memory Verse
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
(Philippians 2:17).
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Weekly Memory Verse
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."
(I John 3:2).
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