Getting Ready to Serve

Karl Crawford • January 7, 2026

I have been in the church my entire life.

I am confident in saying that I was in attendance the next Sunday after my birth (which was on a Sunday). My mother was not one to miss church for any reason. Looking back, I can’t say that I got much out of that first service. I don’t even remember the passage the minister preached from.


There have been other Sundays since then when I didn’t get much out of the service. Many times, it was my fault that I left the service unchanged.


Paul tells Timothy to be ready; “in season” and “out of season” to preach the Word.[1] In the same manner, it is incumbent on me to “be ready” to hear the Word, to be challenged by it, and to grow in it. Our gathering at church is for us to “exhort one another.” I am to be prepared when I walk through the doors to exhort; and to be exhorted.[2]


Sometimes I go to church with an “ear to hear.” Other times, my hearing is blocked by a million other things that have taken up residence in my mind. I may be focused on the past week or the coming week, instead of being present and sensitive to the needs of those around me.


My alarm is typically set for 4:30 AM. There are times when I sleep in a little and other times when I am awake an hour before the alarm sounds, but 4:30 is the appointed time. What I do with those hours between wake up and arriving at church will have much to do with whether I am blessed, bored, or angry by my time spent with God’s people.


My normal preparation is to watch a YouTube video from my pastor. I will read and meditate on the Word. I will pray for our time together as a church family. I will pray for the pastors and others who are ministering in any capacity that day. When I follow this routine, my entire Sunday is different. I feel as though I am spending a day of Sabbath rest with the Lord.


As I was thinking through this, I thought about the other days of the week. How do I prepare to be a blessing to those I will encounter? Do I take seriously, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do at work, do all to the glory of God.” (My paraphrase of I Corinthians 10:31)


Do I segregate my Sunday attitude of worship from my weekday attitude of earning a living? Should it be the same preparation? Of desiring to please the Lord? Of desiring to impact others with the God of the Word? Of pulling the Lord into every aspect of my day?


My aim is to consciously pray for each person I see walking towards my office, that the Lord would make me sensitive to their needs and give me words to say to help meet those needs. I always try to be sensitive to people, but that prayer has a way of focusing my thoughts on them. When I do that, I look at people with different eyes. More patient eyes. Eyes that take less offense. Eyes that see those people as the reason for my day, rather than as an interruption.


I was having a particularly difficult morning when my payroll system went kerflooey. My efforts to fix it were unsuccessful. I was sweating bullets under a looming deadline. And someone called. With a personal problem. That they needed to talk to someone about. I was that someone. What was I to do? To excuse myself as too busy to listen? Or to remember that Jesus died for people? He didn’t die for timely payrolls. He died for people…and I was talking to one of them on the other end of the phoneline. Were they an interruption? Or my purpose for being at work that day?


Just as I need to be ready with “an ear to hear” on Sunday, I need to be ready every other day as well. Matthew tells us that Jesus came to serve, not to be served.[3] And Jesus calls each of us to follow His example—to serve rather than to be served. What does that mean? To teach a Sunday School class? To work in the church nursery? Or does He expect me to serve the next person who walks into my office? Or to serve my employee who is having their own difficult day? Or my wife—in actually serving her rather than just “doing marriage”? Or the person in the church foyer who looks as though they are carrying the weight of the world all by themselves? Or the person in the same church foyer who looks as though they just won the lottery—even though they never play it? I am to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice[4]—because that is what it means to be a servant to them and to my Lord.


I forget, with regularity, that the world does not revolve around me and my wants and perceived needs. My world is to revolve around those for whom Jesus died. Those who Jesus wants me to minister to. Because I love them…or at least I say that I do.


If it is good to spend time getting ready for church, and it is, how much time should I spend getting ready to go to my secular job, where I will meet people all day long who live in Satan’s domain? And who know nothing different? To use an old saying, “I may be the only Jesus they ever see.” Will they see Him today…in me?


[1] 2 Timothy 4:2

[2] Hebrews 10:25

[3] Matthew 20:28

[4] Romans 12:15

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