Full service gas stations are hard to find these days. It’s difficult to locate a station that will have someone wash your windshield, check your tires, your oil and lift the hood to take a look at things for you. These types of stations are nearly extinct now. Everything today, in most parts of the country, are what we call “self-service.” If you want something done to your car, you’ll need to do it yourself. Pump your own gas. Clean your own windshield. And air your own tires.

It’s really unique, and special, to find a full service station.

Full service churches are equally hard to find these days. This is because far too many people come to church in order to be served, rather than to serve. They want a location that is out to serve them as they come to get their blessings, but not be a blessing to someone else.

God is wanting His church, though, to be that place where people minister to one another because they are full service Christians, not just self-service saints. Service is supposed to be the ministry of the church where you and I take our gifts, skills, time and talents and use them to benefit someone outside of ourselves. When this happens, God then flips things around and brings that ministry and service right back to us. That’s how He’s designed His vertical relationship with us to work in many ways when we are living out a full service horizontal relationship with one another.

The summary verse for this is found in Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Servanthood is that willingness to humble yourself in an act done in the name of Christ and for the well-being of others. The rise to greatness starts on your knees with a basin and a towel, and a humble heart.

Check out more from Dr. Tony Evans @Tonyevans.org