Galatians 5:13

[You] were called to be free…serve one another in love.

This week’s Immersion includes looking at the current and potential relationships that we have and how they can serve the very places God has freed us up to love and serve in. As people of God, we have been freed up from our sinful nature and its deadly effects. When Jesus died for our sins, it wasn’t to enable us to continue in our sinful ways, but to reflect the new nature that he gave us in baptism, a nature that acts godly. A great way to reflect that new, godly nature is to serve one another – in love.

Lord God, enable me to exercise my freedom by loving whomever you have placed in my world…

We step into this week celebrating You, Father, who calls us to a life of service;

We celebrate You, Jesus, who lived a life of service for us;

We celebrate You, Holy Spirit, who teaches us to live with a spirit of service;

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Romans 7:6

... we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit.

Hopefully, we aren’t serving people or God because we have to (law), but because we get to (inspired by Spirit)! We love because we have been loved – not by the people who live around us but by the God who came to live among and within us. The heart of the Gospel (“Good News”) is that God loved us while we were yet sinners…and he loved us because he wanted to!

Lord, inspire my love and service to be freely given!

Amen.

1 Corinthians 7:5

Do not deprive each other (of sex) except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer.

Among all the ways spouses can love and serve one another, God gave marriage a unique (or what should be unique) form of loving and serving: “Making love”. Sinful natures wreak havoc with sex drives, but within marriage, that drive is a blessing of God to love and serve each other in ways that no one else is invited to experience.

Lord God, may my sex drive always submit to your Spirit’s control – in and outside of marriage. It is a gift of yours, help me to use it as such.

Amen.

Ephesians 6:7

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not me.

A great reminder for those who “go to work” on a daily basis: From a priority perspective, Do you work for:

1. your boss
2. your customers
3. your family
4. your paycheck, pleasures, bills, etc.
5. yourself, or
6. your God?

While any or all of these can be proper and godly reasons to work hard, the deepest motivation for excellent work is our relationship with God. Do your work relationships reflect your commitment to the Lord and honor Him?

Lord, teach me to work for you.

Amen.

Ephesians 6:3

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

For children, loving and serving comes in the form of obedience to parents; and while this call for obedience may end eventually, it surely includes all those years growing up until we will “leave father and mother” (Gen 2:24) or strike out on our own. Short of sinful demands from mom and dad, obedience is a great way for children to express love and service.

Father God, help me promote this form of love and service in my world. In Jesus’ name,

Amen

Leviticus 19:18

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge… but love your neighbor as yourself.

Here’s the passage from the Old Testament that Jesus quotes about loving your neighbor. It reminds us that one of the greatest forms of loving and serving we actually perform for neighbors-at-large is forgiveness. Without it, others forms of love and service are empty and hollow. Has anyone refused to forgive you? Is the relationship freed up or bound up?

Lord, let me honor your love and forgiveness for me by loving and forgiveness those who sin against me.

Amen.

Revelation 1:6

... and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Today’s Immersion is strictly the bible passage itself: It is a call, not for service, but for glory and power to be upon Jesus Christ our Lord. It is God Himself that we glorify in our service to all! 

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever!

Amen.