Recipe for Service – Encourage, Help, be Patient

“¹⁴And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (ESV)

And there you have it, the recipe for service summed up in just one verse from Paul’s letter. As a servant, I am to act with others in that way to get them going/moving toward the goal. I am to coach them with encouragement, and help and patience, all while ensuring that they are indeed moving and not just sitting idle waiting for the world to come to them.

I have said before and fully believe that I have found my mission in improving lives through growth and learning, and that can only happen with an approach of service using the recipe listed above. I have to take on the characteristics of service and know that I am guiding others in their movement toward the goal.

It may not seem like much and that there is no real action happening with this recipe. I will remind that doing for someone is not doing them any favors. Giving them everything will not provide for their prolonged success in what they do. It is important that we teach them so that they will have the better chance of sustained success and will be able to overcome future adversity.

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” — Unknown

Above is an oft quoted proverb that hold true today, and is paramount in this recipe. I have to teach to fish so that the receiver will be able to feed themselves over and over and over. By simply giving them all/everything, they will continue to come to me again and again with hand out and asking me to “fix” things for them. When teaching them, they will come to me again and again, only now they will be telling how they overcame.

I have to remember the recipe and provide for the needs of others through encouragement, help, and patience. I have to know that the others will get it, I only have to serve them with the know how and then support them and watch their growth.

What does you service look like? Are you giving fish to other? What if you followed the recipe for service and provided the encouragement, help, and patience needed to teach them to fish for themselves?