This is our coffee table.
We fell in love with it when we found it at Crompton Collective in Worcester, a shop filled with furniture, and home decor created from items that have been rescued from disposal, re-assigned value, remade, and repurposed into something beautiful and useful. It’s a wonderful picture of God’s work in you. Ephesians 2:4-10 declares good news that is far more than a ticket to heaven, but God’s comprehensive plan of rescuing, repositioning, remaking and repurposing you for good works that He planned ahead of time for you to walk in.
Jesus rescues you from a self-perpetuating cycle of brokenness that characterizes the world, stems from a self-centered and self-reliant life that’s unaware and unresponsive to God’s presence, and ends in eternal separation from your Creator.
Jesus repositions you in the heavenly realms. He pulls you from the dumpster and places you in the palace. He promotes you from a position of poverty to a relationship of privilege, in which you are reconciled to God and given access to His promises and Christ’s authority.
Jesus is remaking you into His masterpiece, both personally and collectively to reflect His original intent for humanity.
Jesus repurposes you for a plan, purpose, and way of life that flows from God’s love, power, wisdom, and presence.
Jesus beautifully and perfectly embodies this life that He repurposes us for through service. In Matthew 20:25, Jesus says He came not to serve but to be served and to be a ransom for many. We have been rescued, repositioned, remade, and repurposed because of Jesus’ servanthood that culminated in His execution on the cross and His resurrection. Service is more than volunteering for a job or task or fulfilling an obligation, though these do result from service.
Being a servant is a posture of heart, and a perspective with which we approach life; it is an overflow of God’s grace and love poured out in our own hearts.
If you want to expand your influence and plant seeds of transformation, then seek to serve. Begin by asking God to develop in you, the eyes and heart of servant. Husband, what does your wife need to flourish? Wife, what does your husband need to thrive? Parents, what do your kids need to grow healthy lives? Friends, what do your coworkers, employees and employer need to excel? Don’t just assume that you know or are already doing it. Ask them!
May we not only do acts of service, but may we be servants, characterized by the very servanthood of Christ. And may God expand our influence and our capacity to serve in ever-increasing effectiveness, and life changing ways for His glory.