“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:3-8 NASB1995)

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are the body of Christ, the church (the only church). And as the body of believers in Jesus Christ we are to minister to one another within the body of Christ, and we are to be taking the message of the gospel of Christ to the people of the world. This is our mission. And we are not to do this out of selfish ambition or empty conceit, looking out for our own personal interests without thought and consideration of what others need, where they are in want, where they are hurting, and how we can help.

The Lord has reminded me here of how he put it on my heart, and on the heart of my husband, to open our home to college students and to college age adults for a weekly Sunday night Bible study back in January of 1999. Two of our four children were in college at that time, but we asked all of our kids to invite their friends, and some (or all) of them did. We began small, but it wasn’t long before we had 25 to 30 young adults in our home for Bible study every Sunday night, and we fed them dinner, too, every week.

And then the Lord put it on our hearts to purchase musical instruments for them to play so we could sing songs of worship of our God together. And then we added on a game night. And we added on a Wednesday night bible study where we separated male and female, and I taught the women, and my husband taught the men, but we gathered together for singing and for fellowship and meal time. And some of the best times were when we all gathered around the kitchen and everyone had someone to talk to.

Our times together were very participatory. My husband didn’t just preach sermons, but he taught lessons and he asked questions, and the students were able to talk about what they were getting out of the Scriptures, and no one fought with anyone else. And we were forming together into a family. And everyone who wanted to participate, in various ways, was given the opportunity, either to sing or to play an instrument or to cook a meal or do clean up or whatever. We were ministering to their needs, out of love.

Now, not everything went smoothly, and we weren’t perfect in everything that we did, and this was a learning and a growing experience for us, as well. But for 7.5 years we did this weekly, mostly out of our home, although we did partner with several institutional churches for a time. But God closed the doors to those partnerships one after another after another. For that is not where he wanted us. He wanted us in the home. But the young adults graduated, and/or they got married, and eventually this all ended in 2006.

By this time I was already about 1.5 years into what God had called me to do in 2004, which I have continued to do ever since then. So, when one door closed the Lord just opened more doors for me and for the ministry to which he had called me. So, why am I telling you all of this? Well, it is what the Lord put on my heart to share, so I did share it. But I believe it is also a lesson in what it means to do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind to regard one another as more important than yourselves.

For when my husband and I ministered to those youth for 7.5 years, it was not out of any selfish ambition that I am aware of, but it was out of love for the students and the young adults and their needs. We didn’t get paid money for what we did. We didn’t charge anyone anything, either. Toward the end we were working toward turning this into a church plant, so a few people gave their tithes to the ministry, but that was the exception, for sure, and it was not at our request. For what we did we did free of charge.

And the same has continued with the ministry the Lord has given me which I do full time. And my husband and I are not wealthy people. We live on Social Security. But we have all that we need. And we have enough to where we can give to others, too. And this has nothing to do with bragging, okay? The Lord is just using this as an example here of what it looks like to care more about others and their needs and to not look for some kind of monetary or otherwise recompense. It is a model, not a self pat yourself on the back.

We who are followers of Jesus Christ are to be ministering to the body of Christ and to the people of the world in showing them the love of Jesus and in sharing with them the truth of the gospel of our salvation, without looking for anything in return. And, if we are called of God, God will meet our needs. And if we have to, we can go without some things in order to minister to others free of charge. For we are to empty ourselves, and we are to humble ourselves, and we are to lead others to walks of faith in obedience to God.

Ministers of Our God

An Original Work / June 21, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Ministers of our God,
harken to hear Him speak.
Have you given Him
your hearts and souls today?
Hasten to give all to Him.
Let Him cleanse your hearts from sin.
Cast yourselves on His altar.
In your lives do not falter.
Ministers of our God,
harken to hear Him speak.
Have you given Him
your hearts and souls today?

Ministers of our God,
flee from all your idols.
Remove them from your lives.
Be transformed today.
Listen to the words I say.
Give your all to Christ today.
Let him rule within your hearts,
cleanse from sin, His grace impart.
Ministers of our God,
flee from all your idols.
Remove them from your lives.
Be transformed today.

Ministers of our God,
won’t you come to His cross?
Die to sin and yourselves.
Penitently pray.
Humbly accept Him today.
Let Him wash your sins away.
Receive Him into your hearts.
His mercy and grace impart.
Ministers of our God,
won’t you come to His cross?
Die to sin and yourselves.
Penitently pray.

Have This Attitude
An Original Work / February 12, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love