Not serving ourselves

Hear how far back Peter reaches. "The prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully," trying to work out the time and setting "to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing." Then the surprise: "It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you." The prophets worked for people they would never meet, centuries later.

Willpog chose this verse in the session and said its first half is "sort of what Christianity is all about." Our calling, he said, is to love God and to love others, a vertical relationship and a horizontal one. "This idea of serving others and loving others, as Christ's love does, is really what makes Christianity irresistible," he said, "irresistible to those outside of the church."

Digital ministry leaves a trail. Streams become replays, posts get shared, and a reply in a thread gets found by a stranger two years later. Much of what we make online serves people we'll never meet. That can feel discouraging when today's numbers are small. Verse 12 reframes it: like the prophets, we may be serving someone who isn't here yet.

Before you post, stream or reply this week, apply the question verse 12 raises: who is this for? Not "how will it perform?" but "who might it serve?" Then let go of the need to see the result. The prophets did. The gospel still reached Peter's scattered readers, and through them, centuries later, it reached you.