Service is essential to salvation

Dear friend

There are a few very essential reasons why we are on the earth. We must obtain a physical body so as to become more like our Father. We must learn to live by faith which includes keeping God's commandments. We must make sacred covenants; purifying promises with God. When we err we must repent, learning from our mistakes as well as our achievements.

While we are completing this blessed bucket list, we pad out the rest of our mortal moment with work, play, rest and the miriad of minutiae that fill our lives, 24 hours at a time.

As we live with our eyes fixed on the eternity to come, I believe it is still important to focus on the geotic journey. In fact, I think the journey - the way we get through our terrestrial test - is a key aspect in determining our destiny. One of the basics of living a good life is described in the New Testament, Romans 15:1-3.

1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

I am convinced it is an essential element of earth life that we strive to assist each other to get through it. I love the idea that "you cannot help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself". Serving others as a lifestyle lynchpin is, I believe, as important to our eternal prospects as is living by faith. In some ways they are the same thing.

Jesus Christ is the One in whom we must have faith. We demonstrate that faith by how we live our lives. The best way to ensure you are living a good life is to pattern it after the Lord; to do the things He did. And at the core of His life was service to others, helping those in need, bearing the infirmities of the weak.

I hope that it will be an item on our daily bucket list to help someone where we can; to "please our neighbour". I pray that we will develop service giving as a defining part of who we are - a core characteristic of our better nature - to take the time or make the time to seek opportunities and be responsive to situations where we can improve the lot of others. Service is a spiritual lifestyle choice.

Samuel.