In Luke 5:12-15 we read that Jesus healed a man who had leprosy. The man revealed his faith by telling Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus said he was willing, touched the man, and said, “Be clean!” Immediately the man was healed. Jesus told him not to tell anyone what had happened but to go to the priests and offer the appropriate sacrifices “as a testimony to them.” Verse 15 makes it pretty clear that the man told people how he had been healed, because many others came to Jesus to be healed. And Jesus healed them.
Clearly Jesus had compassion for all people, since he healed so many and spent so much time ministering to them. However, Jesus’ purpose wasn’t simply to heal people; he was here to serve God. Luke 5:16 tells us that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Despite all the amazing things Jesus did for people, from his preaching and teaching and healing to dying on the cross and rising from the dead, his primary focus in life was his relationship with his Father.
As we strive to be more like Jesus and focus less on ourselves, we have to be careful even how we serve God. That is, we must keep our relationship with God as our primary focus in life, making sure that even our service is secondary to our love for God. While I do think that more of us in this body of believers should be doing more to serve, I don’t want anyone to confuse their service with their relationship with God. Service is a spiritual discipline that comes from our dependence upon God, and that can grow only as our relationship with God grows.
If I could encourage you in one way to build that relationship, I would recommend working on your prayer time. Take the time to get a weekly prayer list from the Welcome Center or sign up for the weekly prayer list email. Read through the Psalms or Proverbs and use the writers’ words of praise and thanksgiving and petition as your own. Begin a prayer journal, writing down your prayers completely or as lists of your praises and requests, noting when God answers your prayers. Take the time, like Jesus, to be alone with God. Then see how God blesses your life and service to him.