"Reasonable Service"

"Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me." (John 8:49 KJV)

  "Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? And fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too." (Philippians 2:1-4 NLT)

 By the way, anything that has happened, regardless of the amount of evil in might have inflicted upon this world, it was allowed to happen for a specific reason. God is and always has been on the Throne; nothing gets by Him without Him knowing what is going to happen; nothing that happens takes Him by surprise! Better yet, those that are His children, will be strengthened by much of what continues to set them apart. 

 Obviously, there are so many things that happen here, each and every day, that are clearly the work of the devil. He is not called the god of this world for nothing, but even though he might be called a god, he is still not winning or going to win! The battle has already been won! Jesus defeated the devil and all of his plans on the cross; and He sealed the deal, by rising up from the grave, to take His rightful place in heaven. 

 No matter what happens in this world, we that are the children of the King, and we will be totally and completely secure; nothing can touch or take away our eternal security in Christ, absolutely nothing! So what do we do with that? Well, for starters, we can be bold in our testimony on the Good News; remembering that we once could not see how important it was to put our faith in Christ Jesus.

 Secondly, we are those that have been set apart: as Peter states, "They stumble because they do not obey God's word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9 NLT)  

 Thirdly we must honor our King! That is our reasonable service, to follow Him; which means that we follow His example of what it means to be a living sacrifice, denying ourselves for the security and the benefit of others... 

"You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and wad born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on the cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11 NLT)