Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve (Matthew 20:28), so too, we must learn to serve others. Sir Alexander Patterson prays, “Make us masters of ourselves that we may be the servants of others.” Oftentimes, we do not offer our service joyfully because we’re too busy longing for another way, a greener pasture. We long for fleeting pleasures—those things which satisfy our cravings until the next symptomatic lust comes along. I know this, because I do it everyday.

I want a housekeeper. I like my house to be spic and span, and it puts me in a mood to have it messy. I think that life would be better if only I had a maid to help me alphabetize my spices and scrub the shower. I hate scrubbing the shower. And my spices are not in order.

But it is time to take stock when my mood is determined by serving my lusts instead of finding satisfaction in Christ. What makes my heart happy? Instead of singing with the Psalmist, “Oh, how I love Thy law,” I am lamenting, “Oh, how I wish I had Merry Maids. That will make me happy.”

There are bigger things to lament, but there is no greater thing to love.