When the reward is external and immediate, it’s a lot easier to do something you don’t want to do. When my son gets to play his game if he finishes his lunch, he scarfs it down like a starving man discovering food. We can motivate ourselves when the reward is something outside of ourselves and happens immediately after the hard work.

       It’s a lot harder to motivate ourselves when the reward is internal and delayed. We go to the gym, but it’s going to be a while before we see results. That can be hard. We start cutting back on our calories, but it’s going to be a while before we start seeing results. It can be difficult to keep that up.

       The same thing is often true when we serve. Sometimes, rarely, there’s this breakthrough moment when we’re serving at church and our services gets us into a conversation where Jesus gets involved and somebody’s life gets changed or the door is opened for the first time to their heart. Those stories are amazing. But most of the time it’s an act of self-denial with no immediate external reward. We deny ourselves and serve and that’s what happened at church today. End of story.

       Except, we serve a God who showed up as a man and lived a life of service and self-denial. He did it out of love for us. Eventually there was a resurrection, but there was hardship before. Not to mention a brutal death on a cross. 

       What if self-denial isn’t supposed to have immediate external rewards? What if when those happen it’s a great bonus that we praise God for, but what if most of the time we deny ourselves to be more like Jesus? What if we serve and miss out and work when others are relaxing at church to be more like Jesus? And what if in doing so we draw closer to God through our denial as we look more like Jesus washing the disciples feet?

       Thank you so much for serving this Sunday. I know it can be a burden. But you’ve chosen to take that burden on yourself for the benefit of others and we are so thankful to that. I pray that your act of service this week draws you closer to the one who washed his disciples feet and died on the cross.