Ask not what God can do for you...

John F. Kennedy proposed the following thought: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Since then, our country has changed. Without getting political, a lot of Americans are now asking what our government can do for us. It's an interesting change.

I think it's an interesting change because I see the same thing happening in the church. Serving God is no longer about what we can do for God, but what God can do for us. There is this expectation that because we believe, and because we have been adopted into His family, that we deserve everything that we want!

This isn't a new idea. The same thing happened when Jesus was here. One of the first miracles that Jesus performed was feeding a multitude of people with only a handful of bread and a few fish. People started following Jesus then because they were expecting to be fed without having to do anything.

Jesus quickly set them on the correct path by saying:

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him,“Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whomrhe has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but he will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:25-40

Today, let's struggle to keep things in perspective. Jesus served when He was here by pointing people to His Father. Let's serve like Jesus and speak His truth to those around us. Even Jesus said that He didn't come to do His own will, but the will of His Father... as Christians, let us struggle to be more like Christ!