BECAUSE YOU ARE WILLING

1 Peter 5:5 Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be;

In my journalling on 10 May, the verse above reminded me of my attitude towards serving God. I remember when I was a young Christian at the age of 17, I was quite affected by my some older Christians who would come out committee meetings "sour face", complaining about the meeting being long, about someone who is not in agreement with them, or simply unhappy being there. I made a promise to myself since, that in whatever I do in serving God, I will not be a reluctant servant. In fact, I recognize the importance of my influence of the people around me, just as I was affected by those coming out from the meetings. If I want to affect people positively, I must find joy in what I do. That's why my vision and mission, written in 1994, is written this way:

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MY VISION

To inspire, equip and model a life of joyful worship and surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, both in person and as a family, to the community of people around me.

MY MISSION

My God is a good and faithful God and I make it my mission to communicate this so that others may see Him as such. Through my life, I want people to see that obeying and surrendering to God is a joy, and not a chore. 

I want to be called a man after God's heart, a true worshipper.

The first place where I want to exhibit this is in my own home. I want Stella to know that I will love her the way God wants me to, and I want her to express to the fullest her potential and giftedness in serving God. 

I want my children to see that their dad loves God dearly and serve Him joyfully, and they would want to have what dad has. I want to see my children grow up to love the Lord and serve Him wholeheartedly. In this process, we will serve God together as a family and be an excellent model of a Christian family in every aspect of our lives.

I strive for excellence in my ministry so as to inspire people to excellence in the way they serve God. I will put in a process of equipping that will enable people to discover their vision in life and actualise this vision at home, in ministry and their secular employment.

It is my desire to end life’s journey with these thoughts in the minds of people: Here’s a man who loves God intimately, his wife and children dearly, people passionately, and life itself purposefully

Having said all this, I am fully aware that Jesus Christ must continue to be my central focus in all that I do and all praise and glory are due His Name.

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As a leader today, I realize the power of joyful worship and service. That's what Apostle Peter is saying: "Do it not because you must, but because you are willing". There is a world of difference between the two because it will show up in our attitude. People will sense it and although they may not say it, they will simply be affected in the same way in the way they serve God. I am therefore careful about what I say in front of people, especially my own family. Often because they are the closest, they are also the most vulnerable to our shortcomings. I am not advocating that we are not authentic with the way we feel. Rather, I am advocating "efficacy" - right words at the right time. Better still, we should deal with our attitude towards the way we serve. This way we guard against bad attitudes that naturally comes out when we are reluctant. Examine therefore why we do what we do. We do it because we love God. It is a love response. This is the gist of my last post. 

SERVE GOD JOYFULLY!