Serving is trusting. Think about it. When you give your heart, time and resources, you entrust something of yourself to someone else. You place someone's needs above your own, confident that you've made a priceless investment into an individual or a project that benefits people.

The fact that serving involves trust could be one of the reasons many don’t serve or give more often. Or more generously. The lack of trust that what they give isn’t appreciated or the creeping anxiety that their need will go unment can hinder the joy of giving by serving.

And yet Paul encourages Jesus followers not to fall into that trap. He cites his personal experience in Acts:

“You yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my own needs and those of my companions. In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (Acts 20:34-35, Berean Study Bible)

It’s always worth the investment to reflect the endless generosity of God. There’s no downside. God directs seasons of service, identifies places of service, enables service, and refreshes His servants until the next service assignment. There’s no room for worry for those who reflect His purposes through compassionate service. 

When doubting the value of our service, we can hold onto this promise from Psalm 41:1:

“How blessed is he who considers the helpless; The LORD will deliver him in a day of trouble. The LORD will protect him and keep him alive, and he shall be called blessed upon the earth.” (NASB)

In other words, when you entrust yourself to the service God calls Jesus followers to, you can trust Him to take care of what concerns you. The woman who made room for the prophet Elisha discovered this. She and her husband prepared a place for him from their resources. They established a relationship. When she had a need, the Lord answered her. (Read the story of Elisha and the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8-37.)

While none of us should never serve to give or get, we must always remember that when we serve freely, without regret, we walk in the ways of Heaven, not Earth. Heaven runs on a different economy, expectation and return on investment. God's servants keep those differences in mind. Their service is led by the Father, not themselves others.

If God is leading you to take on a serving opportunity for Dallas, please consider joining us on Saturday, April 8 to volunteer at the Transform Dallas Citywide Workday.  Dallas Leadership Foundation, together with Concord Church, Fellowship Church, Friendship West Baptist Church, Highland Park Presbyterian Church, Park Cities Baptist Church, and Prestoncrest Church of Christ have teamed up to demonstrate the love of Christ.

The workday will provide pro bono services such as serving meals to the homeless, renovating elementary schools, assembling and delivering care packages to hospitals, hosting carnivals and block parties for children, assisting formerly incarcerated women, and painting houses for seniors and low-income families. You can register to volunteer at dlftx.org/transform-dallas.org.