“Why would I do that for someone at my own cost?”

Suppose such a thought filled your mind one day: “What if I wrote a bunch of encouraging messages and gave it out to strangers?”

Or you noticed that a classmate has been lagging behind in school and you wondered if you should offer him help. But you dismiss those thoughts quickly.

The things I’m talking about are things that require some semblance of sacrifice: Time, money, or a loss in “face”.

“Why would I do that?” is a practical question we might ask when we want to validate the spending of our resources on a person who didn’t ask us to help them, who might not appreciate us for what we do, or who might never be able to help us in return.

How would you answer the question, “Why would I?”

Would you say that it is the “right thing” to help other when we can? It is, after all, summed up in the Golden Rule, that we should “do unto others what we want others to do unto us.” (Luke 6:31)

For many of us, we might struggle with going the extra mile for others. Perhaps we have been taught by bad experiences that it doesn’t always pay to be nice – or feel restrained by a lack of time or energy. Or perhaps we are waiting for others to love us first.

What we want isn’t just to be a nice person, but to glorify God at the end of it all.

Yet it would be a waste if our struggle to love only ends in unwillingness or passivity.

What if we would harness our struggles and let it challenge us to embrace the same attitude of humility and love that Jesus Christ had?

And if you find yourself in that place of “Why would I do that?” or “How could I do it?”, I hope you’ll find your answer in God’s enabling:

“…that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfil every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12)

What we want isn’t just to be a nice person, but to glorify God at the end of it all.

Whenever you have a resolve for good – a desire to do good – that you find it hard to bring into fruition on your own, I pray that God will fulfil it in your life by His power, so that His name may be glorified through you.

And whenever you act in faith, I pray that God will complete your work with His power, that much is amounted to, so that His name may be glorified.

The next time you wonder, “Why would I do that?” and “How could I do it?” – consider these questions:

1. Will it glorify the name of God?
2. Will I ask for His grace and power to top up where I lack?

And as you serve and extend the love of God to others, forget not that you are also dearly loved by Father God, and you serve out of the desire to do what pleases your Father. If we will honour God – spending our life to serve God and His people (Galatians 5:14) – then God will also honour us (John 12:26).

As we count the cost of serving God, may we always arrive at the conclusion that we will gladly pay it, surrendering ourselves into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ whose grace compels us to no longer live for ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:15).

So don’t just be a nice person – be His servant.