People love praise. They love to receive accolades and pats on the back. It’s just a part of humanity. The people of the Church are no exception. 

There are many who serve the Lord because it puts them on a platform for people to see them. They are addicted to people coming up to them and saying, “Worship was awesome today!” or, “What a great message, pastor!” Of course, it’s not the reason that all serve, but unfortunately, with the way the modern church is– curated, broadcasted, and elevated– it’s easy for even the most well-intentioned of God’s people to fall into a dependence on approval from others in the Church. 

Service is so deeply important to the Christian lifestyle. It is something Jesus did, and so we are compelled to do it. He washed the feet of His disciples. He healed the sick. He taught the masses. He ministered to many. He discipled those who were meant to pick up where He left off when His work after the cross was done.

And He’s still working and serving us, a people who don’t deserve such tender care and affection.

When I was in college, I joined a sorority. There was an awesome sense of belonging in that, knowing that I was in a community of women that I could call friends, and we could accept each other's differences simply because we were united by the same Greek letters of the sorority. Over those three years that I was an active sister, there was this idea drilled into us that we were “always wearing our letters.” In other words, we were always representing our sorority, whether we were wearing the Greek letters that designated us as a community or not. So wherever we went, whatever we said, however we conducted ourselves– it was a reflection of the sorority itself.