“Do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself, and not just your earthly master.  In fact, the Lord Christ is the one you are really serving, and you know that he will reward you.”   – Colossians 3:23-24

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  -Proverbs 22:6

Serving others in need is what we are commanded by God to do.  We read in Colossians that as we serve others it is really Christ we are serving.  Do we take the time to really ‘see’ Jesus in the face of the person we’re serving?  Do we recognize that he is at the heart of what we’re doing?

Serving is kind of like Christmas – it is fun to get together with other Christians and serve, there’s activity involved, it feels good.  But we can make the mistake that just like Christmas we can forget that Jesus is at the heart of it, that it is something that we should continue to do all through the year.  Serving ought to be a daily lifestyle, not just focused on events a couple times a year.

In order to make serving a lifestyle we need to get involved regularly.  Any ministry can only survive with ongoing year-round volunteer help.  We have to be the church outside of the 4 walls – Be the church in our homes, work place and communities.  We need to cultivate this lifestyle in our family – our children need to see it and they can be involved too.

This post marks the first in a series I will share about how families can serve together as part of a lifestyle, not only event-based (Although events are great ways to kick-start serving or to accomplish a larger project).

I would like to share one simple way that our entire family have been able to serve together, and yes there are plenty of opportunities for families with young children to serve together!  It has been great for our family to help pack dry meals for those in need around the world.  Our kids have been a part of the body of believers in making a difference in the lives of others.  We have been blessed to help with an organization here in Florida (Feeding Children Everywhere) that packs meals with the help of thousands of volunteers to be shipped around the globe.  This has been one great way to teach our children about the needs of others, to give them an active role in serving and a reminder of how blessed we are.

Serving takes the focus off of us and makes us think of others.  As we continue as a family to seek ways to get involved in serving outside the walls of the church building our prayer is that our children grow up in that lifestyle and be a part of what God is doing in the real world.

-Jason