I suppose one could answer that by citing scriptures that give examples of believers preaching the gospel to sinners, teaching the Bible to fellow-believers, giving comforting passages from Scripture to those who are going through trials, or helping to meet the physical needs that people have. But I want to focus instead on the ATTITUDES that the believer must have if he/she is going to serve the Lord. There are FOUR that come to mind.

1. DESIRE: The believer must have the “DESIRE to serve.” A good example of this is found in the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 6:8 we read, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’ Isaiah heard the Lord’s voice calling out for someone to serve Him and he immediately said, “Send me.” That, dear friend, is the DESIRE we should all have. It reminds me of another example. After Saul of Tarsus was saved his first words to the Lord were, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” If we have this DESIRE to serve Him, the Lord will surely show us what He wants us to do and He will also give us the ability to do it.

2. DEDICATION: The believer must be fully “DEDICATED to the Lord” in order to serve Him. The Apostle Paul exhorts us in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE, holy, acceptable to God, which is YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE.” In a word, the Lord wants our whole being (our heart, our mind, our soul, and every member of our body) to be DEDICATED TO HIM! Sometimes people urge sinners to “Give your heart to the Lord,” but until one is saved their heart is wicked (see Jeremiah 17:9 with Matthew 15:19). But once the grace of God reaches the sinner resulting in salvation, a new heart is given to him (see John 3:1-7 with 1st Peter 1:22-23). The believer is now a child of God and our heavenly Father exhorts His child, “My son, give me your heart” (Proverbs 23:26). God knows if we DEDICATE OUR HEART AND SOUL to Him, He will be able to use us in His service, whatever that may be. As we continue to focus on “the mercies of God” (giving His Son to die for us, calling us to salvation through the gospel by the Spirit’s work in us, making us His children and members of the body of Christ, promising us an eternal home in heaven, and many other mercies we didn’t deserve or earn), we will be compelled to DEDICATE ourselves to Him.

3. DEPENDENCE: The believer must realize that we have no power to serve the Lord in and of ourselves. In the spirit of dependence, we must come to Him in PRAYER, as we see in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” God has also given us the Holy Spirit to empower us for service. Just before He ascended back to heaven, Jesus told His disciples, “But you shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). The disciples laid hold of these two resources of power (PRAYER and THE HOLY SPIRIT) and thus we read in Acts 4:31, “And when they had PRAYED….they were all FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”

4. DETERMINATION: Last, but not least, we must be DETERMINED to: 1) be a blessing to others, and 2) bring glory to God. If we seek to serve the Lord for self-gain or self-glory, we will be miserable and ineffective servants. But if we are determined to be a channel of blessing to others and an empty vessel that God can use for His glory, He will indeed lead us to people in need. They will then be blessed and God will be glorified! These two things (man’s blessing and God’s glory) are brought out beautifully in 1st Corinthians 10:31-33, “Therefore, whether you eat, or drink, or WHATEVER you do, do all to the GLORY OF GOD. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also PLEASE ALL MEN IN ALL THINGS, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.”  (DO)  (551.5)