How Do You Serve Others when You Have Nothing Left to Give?
You’ve been up all night nursing a sick baby, and the next morning a friend calls and needs someone in whom she can confide her struggles.
You serve in the church in what seems every capacity that exists, and you just have nothing left to offer.
A friend betrays you..again..and you’re ready to “can” the relationship.
It’s 10 p.m. and you’re still cleaning up the kitchen. Your husband’s dress shirts are wrinkly-cold in the dryer, crumbs still cover the kitchen table, and you’ve got to get up and do it all over again tomorrow.
In some capacity, we’ve probably all felt like we just have nothing left to give — drained, emotionally empty and tired, and unable to offer anything else to anyone.
And yet, the friend who phoned you has a real need and a painful struggle. Your sick little one needs a mama — day and night. God has given you ministries and equipped you to serve in the church. God calls us to forgive — as He has forgiven us. And washing dishes, hanging laundry, and after-dinner crumbs are your calling and ministry.
Here’s the danger:
In your flesh, you can work and serve in every single capacity listed above. By gritting your teeth, swallowing another cup of coffee, and giving yourself a pep talk, you can stay awake tomorrow morning, scrub the counters, and show kindness to the friend who has hurt you. You are a woman. You are tough. You can handle it. And that’s the problem.
Do you know what Jesus tells his disciples during a time of exhaustion and grief (upon hearing the news of the gruesome beheading of John the Baptist)?
“Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” Mark 6:31.
The funny thing is, though, that as they depart to go to a deserted place to rest a while, a huge multitude follows them (five thousand men, not counting the families they bring along with them). Upon seeing the people, Jesus is “moved with compassion for them” and begins to teach them many things.
By the end of the day, the thousands of people are hungry and tired, and Jesus tells the disciples to “give them something to eat.”
But the disciples need rest! They are empty. They have nothing left to offer. They truly, really, physically have nothing to give, nothing to serve.
Jesus’ response is to ask them what they do have. They present to him a little boy’s meager, almost silly offering: five loaves and two fish — for, let’s say, 20,000 people!
However, Jesus blesses the offering. He breaks and divides the loaves and fish.
And here’s the exciting part: Although Jesus has commanded His disciples to give the people something to eat, what is the role of the disciples in obeying Christ in their service to this multitude?
They simply stretch out their hands, receive the bread and fish from Christ, and then offer to the people what Jesus Christ has just served to them.
So what do you do when you have nothing left to give? Friend, you receive. You receive the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ Himself. Then, you simply offer to your husband, your children, your church, and your friends the bread and fish that Christ Himself has given, broken, and blessed. You receive a handout, because receiving the Bread of Life is the only means by which God has provided for you to carry out and pass on His love and service to others.
Come aside and rest. Receive from Jesus in your weakness and emptiness. Yes, this involves time with God and quietness in Him, and this resting in and relying on God also involves short prayers {“Help, Lord.”} offered up for help, strength, and love for others when milk is splashed across the kitchen floor, neighborhood kids run through the garden, and your husband doesn’t make it home from work before bedtime. Living in gospel-rest is to love God and His children by receiving the gifts of Jesus and, in turn, offering them to others in worship and thanksgiving to God.
To serve others when you have nothing left to give, receive a handout.