We continue to challenge ourselves this week as to our WILLINGNESS to serve GOD. Sadly, all too often, we serve Him and others grudgingly or half-heartedly. Consider some of the words Paul wrote to Christians in Thessalonica. He recalls with them the time he and his companions first went to preach the gospel to them: ‘But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased (WILLING) to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us’, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 7 & 8. There was nothing cold or formal about their service – every phrase Paul wrote breathes warmth and willingness. Do we show these same feelings for others in our service for God?

If we read through the four Gospels in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) we will discover the gentleness and kindness shown by Jesus towards those with whom He came into contact: e.g.

‘Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him (the leper); and said to him, I am WILLING, be cleansed’, Mark chapter 1 verse 41

There was One who was WILLING to die in my stead, that a soul so unworthy might live.
And the path to the cross He was WILLING to tread, all the sins of my life to forgive.

They were borne on the cross, they were borne on the cross,
O how much He was WILLING bear!
With what anguish and loss, Jesus went to the cross!
But He carried my sins with Him there.