“And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” II Corinthians 8:5

God likes volunteers! The first response of the redeemed is service. Isaiah’s vision of the thrice Holy God exposed his sins, but his “Woe is me!” quickly became “Here I am; send me” when the sacrifice of the Lamb purged his lips. The Apostle Paul’s Damascus road encounter with the Lord Jesus changed his life forever. Instead of doing his own thing in the name of religion, he did God’s thing in the name of Jesus Christ, and it all started with a volunteer’s voice saying, “Lord, what would thou have me to do?”

The very first thought and action after repentance for a Christian is to give him or herself to the Lord. After all, we are His in the first place. We are His by purchase and by gift from his only begotten Son who died on the cross for the very ones His Father gave Him to die for; after which the Son gave them back to the Father to be one with Him forever. This is called eternal life, and because it is from God and it is forever His gift by grace, surely we ought to be ready and willing to do something for the Lord. And, it’s not to be done so God will love us more, rather so that we will love Him more. A mother once told me that once you have a child, your life becomes a sacrifice. That is a good way to think about our service to Almighty God, because that’s what love does, it makes us want to give. This shows just how powerful salvation really is. Jesus giving Himself for us on the cross not only cleared our sin debt, but also choked the power of sin and shame in our lives. An unsaved person would never ever think of giving himself or herself to the Lord. If our affections for Jesus are deep enough to want to serve Him and to submit to Him, then we can be sure we are saved by His grace and for that very purpose.

In Romans chapter twelve and verse one, the Apostle Paul makes a plea for us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, and he calls it reasonable service. The perfect sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us in addition to His righteousness imparted to us, makes our service and giving to God most acceptable not because of what we do, but because of what He has done.

The local church is a most blessed platform of service and giving to the Lord and should be viewed as a privilege as well as a duty. Giving ourselves to the Lord and then to the church is the right order of a Christian’s business and are two sides of the same coin. Although salvation is free, when we give ourselves voluntarily to the Lord and His church, we will find more riches than we ever imagined. We can never outgive God! We don’t decide to be saved, but we do decide to serve. Make that decision today; we may not be here tomorrow. The blessings afforded us in serving God and His church will make for much and adequate spiritual “spending money.” And, on top of that benefit, we get to keep the change!

Brother Randy