Love Goes to Work
When Christ's love fills a life, it moves outward. Service is not a burden added to faith. It is faith becoming useful.
"Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."
Matthew 20:28The Dead Sea has a famous problem. Fresh water pours into it constantly, but it has no outlet. Nothing ever flows back out. So the water just sits, concentrates, and turns so salty that nothing can survive in it. Hence the name.
A few miles up the same river, that identical water flows through the Sea of Galilee, in one end, out the other, and it's bursting with fish, fishermen, and whole towns built around the catch.
Same water. The only difference is whether it flows through or just piles up. A faith that only receives and never gives slowly becomes the Dead Sea. Love was made to move through you, not pool inside you.
Love that's real doesn't stay bottled up
Picture a spring in the desert. "Like the streams of water bursting from a living spring, blessings flow out from" God "to all His creatures. And wherever the life of God is in the hearts of men, it will flow out to others in love and blessing." When God's love is genuinely in you, it doesn't sit still, "like sweet fragrance it cannot be hidden."
You don't need a stage
This isn't a call to become famous or move overseas (unless He sends you). "We need not go to heaven lands, or even leave the narrow circle of the home... We can do this in the home circle, in the church, among those with whom we associate." Remember: most of Jesus' life was spent doing ordinary work in a carpenter's shop. Faithful, unglamorous, everyday life counts.
When the love of Christ is enshrined in the heart, like sweet fragrance it cannot be hidden.
Steps to Christ, chapter 9
Serving is how you grow
Helping others isn't just something you do after you've grown. It's how you grow. "The only way to grow in grace is to be disinterestedly doing the very work which Christ has enjoined upon us." "Strength comes by exercise." A Christian who only receives and never gives, the book warns, slowly experiences "degeneration and decay", like a muscle that's never used.
By their unconscious influence they may start waves of blessing that will widen and deepen, and the blessed results they may never know until the day of final reward.
Steps to Christ, chapter 9
Your unnoticed influence
You may never see the results, and that's okay. "The humblest and poorest of the disciples of Jesus can be a blessing to others... by their unconscious influence they may start waves of blessing that will widen and deepen." A kind word, a small act, a quiet example. You might never know where the ripples reach.
It's like a muscle. Use it and it grows; wrap it in bubble wrap and never use it and it wastes away. "Strength comes by exercise." The Christian who only takes in. More sermons, more songs, more content, and never pours out actually gets weaker, not holier.
A candle lighting another candle. It loses nothing, the flame passes on and the first one burns just as bright. Sharing your faith is the rare kind of giving where the giver ends up with more, not less.
You don't have to be an influencer
We're surrounded by a message that says impact means an audience. Followers, reach, going viral. It's easy to feel like anything you do that no one sees basically doesn't count. Chapter 9 says the opposite: the quietest, most unseen kindness is exactly where the real work happens.
Two things worth trying. First, look for one small way to serve someone this week, a text to a lonely friend, helping without being asked, showing up. Second, notice this: if your faith feels dry or stuck, the cure is usually not to consume more Christian content but to go do something for someone. You grow by giving. Love was made to flow.
Three questions
- Who in your everyday circle. Home, school, group chat. Could you actually bless this week?
- Do you secretly feel that unseen good "doesn't count"? Where did that idea come from?
- When your faith feels stale, is your instinct to consume more or to go serve someone?
Jesus, You didn't come to be served but to serve. Make me like that. Let Your love in me flow outward instead of pooling up. Show me one person to bless today, even if no one ever sees it. I want to grow by giving, the way You did.
Next: Learning to See God
Keep moving through the journey in order. Step 10 builds on what you have just read.
Continue to Step 10