Servant Inspiration

Just when I was getting impatient waiting for a new assignment from Compassion, I open my email to find one!

ASSIGNMENT: 

Which Bible Verse Prompts and Guides You to Serve Others?

I read the email and thought about it for nearly a full day before starting this post. Why do I travel to bring hope and help to the hungry? Why do I blog about issues facing the voiceless in the world? Why do I stay up late to talk with a hurting kid or teen? What verse prompts me in my work? How do I choose just one?!

The answer is, I can't. I could probably do a whole series on verses that guides me towards compassion, but I'm narrowing it down to just two today. If you've been following for a while, you might know that I am passionate about all things social justice. Poverty, trafficking, orphans, clean water, health care...all of these things get me fired up. It's been a building awareness and subsequent action as I've grown older. 

My first missions trip was when I was 14 years old. It opened my eyes to the spiritual and financial poverty in the world, to the emotional and physical needs of the people in it. Meeting a fellow kid who's eyes were literally eaten from their skull by a parasite will do that to you. Since that trip, I crave servanthood. I am at my happiest and most fulfilled when I am helping. So where does that come from? What verses keep me going when I feel like giving up?

One simple verse I stumbled upon several years back, I think around my senior year of high school, has motivated me and keeps me remembering what's important.

All that matters is faith in Christ, which shows itself to the world as love. Another verse says they'll know us (Christ followers) by our love. Love for the least of these, love for the unlovable, love for the world. That's it. Faith and Love. Nothing else matters. 

Isaiah frequently inspires me, too, with so much to say about widows, orphans, the oppressed, the slave, but one of my newest favorite verses that I'm claiming for my life is from Psalms

 I absolutely LOVE this verse! It explains exactly why I do what I do. No one should be afraid of other people. No one should be able to abuse and oppress and terrify them.  I am blessed to be free from those things, and believe others should have the same blessing.

Like I said, this subject could be a whole series, but there's the quick version of why I serve. What inspires you as you serve others? Or what holds you back from serving?