Consider this a kinder, gentler version of past ruminations on this subject…. as well as (in the case of the next paragraph) a leveraging of one small reworking within Lay It Down: the book (in hopeful anticipation of official publication not so far down the road)…. but that in turn got me thinking further….

We often talk today about the need to be “missional,” but the fact is, that’s what Jesus has called us to be all along. We’re not only called to be saved as individuals, but to live in the realization that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

However, with the rediscovery of the importance of serving others—of actually acting on our faith, of doing—we must not forget the importance of being with Jesus. Without that, all our doing is just… doing. We may be serving others, but we’re not truly serving God—and thus, not serving others in the way God truly calls us to. The actions may be there, but the Spirit is absent.

Truth be told, a lot of service is an effort to ameliorate the “bad PR” Christianity gets these days. We need to get over that. It really isn’t our problem. We need to focus on Christ, then upon what He wants from us. The service that comes out of that will do its work—because it’s His work. God will take care of His reputation, and yours.

Do, because you are. Jesus will use you, if you’re His. Count on it.