God Created Us to Serve

And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. - 2 Corinthians 9:8   

Ok, the secret is out. I made the cookies for Mother’s Day. People asked so I won’t lie. They also asked for the recipe, and I won’t lie about that either. They were Nestle Toll House Cookies – from the tub, 3 tubs of them in fact. All I did was go to the store, get the tubs, follow the instructions, put them in the oven, take them out, let them cool, bag them, and bring them.  

In other words, I really didn’t “make” the cookies, but I was part of the process.  

It was really Jesus’ idea for us to love others through service, so I can’t take credit for that. God provided me with everything I needed to make the cookies from the brain to think of it, the hands and energy to do it, the resources to get them and cook them, and everything in between including the ingredients to make them. So, I have nothing to really take credit for.  

Isn’t that the way with everything? 

God created us to serve...  

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. - Ephesians 2:10 

That is why we are here. He created each of us to do our part. We are His handiwork. He gets the credit because we are doing what we were created to do. His idea. His creation. His provision. His motivation. His grace. His providence. His resources. His Word. His World.  

Cookies are a small thing but a fun thing. It is fun to do what we were created to do. (In my case, serving, but not necessarily making cookies. That is not one of my real gifts. Actually, it is hard to mess up Toll House Cookies unless you don’t follow the instructions which is a lesson unto itself.) When we do what we were created to do, that is fun. It is life-giving.  

Jesus made a statement that I have never heard anyone else ever preach...  

 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty. - Luke 17:10 

One year, this was the theme for the high school where I taught. One of the students created a logo of it with a warrior (our mascot) kneeling on the ground with his head bowed over his sword, a sign of submission to his commander. We are only servants doing what our Lord has directed us to do. It’s all His idea. He is in charge. We follow Him.  

We do what we do because of what He has done for us. In effect, “... every good and perfect gift is from above.” (James 1:17) including everything we have. Our Father loves to give good gifts, and we are the recipient of so many, many gifts, including life itself, abundant life, and eternal life. You can’t out give God. We are blessed to be a blessing.  

Cookies are just a small thing, but they are good.  

Just a small way to say “thank you” to all of our amazing moms on Mother’s Day!  

And by the way, there were several cookies left over, so I got to enjoy them too – some left-over blessings. They were pretty good – thanks to Tollhouse and the God who created them.