Serving up some Gospel Soup!

You would think that when you serve at an out-of-the-cold programme, God's main purpose for using you is to meet the physical needs of the homeless on a cold, winter night. No doubt, that's really high on God's priority list... just read Matthew 25! Then this happened:

This evening, while a group of volunteers were chatting during some down-time, we got to talking about why we were doing what we were doing. The conversation turned to spiritual matters, to God, to church...

When we pray that God would use us, watch out, because He will! Maybe not in the way you expect, either. This evening, doors opened for the Gospel to be spoken into the lives of other humanitarian volunteers. Relationships began to be built. Relationships built on trust and on a shared purpose.

Serving others to meet their physical needs out of the love of Christ is not the same as humanitarian work. We do it because Jesus loves us so much that the only response is to love him back and to love others, as well. This passage came to mind while giving that reason to the other volunteers:

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

Go and serve somewhere, and watch for how God will show up!