Serving brings purpose to our lives, direction, and encouragement. Gain spiritual insight into the importance of a servant’s heart and explore 17 Bible verses about serving others.
The idea of making a difference has always been something that I have been passionate about! During my single season, (once I finally got over myself) I found so much fulfillment in being able to devote my time and attention to serving those who God had placed on my heart. The elderly in particular is a population that really drives me to action!
There are so many opportunities in our day to day lives to serve when we open our hearts and listen to the holy spirit! We were created to walk alongside God and participate with him in his plans. Serving gives us purpose and direction and encourages us to branch out and walk in our spiritual gifts.
So, what can you do to serve others?
Find a need and fill it. This is the basis for serving others and being a blessing to your fellow man. Serving those in need doesn’t require lots of preparation or practice. All you need is a willing heart! Keep reading to learn more about God’s heart for serving those in needs and study bible verses about serving others.
This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
What is a Servant’s heart?
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:27-28 KJV
What does it mean to have a servant’s heart? Well to answer this question we have to look to the scriptures and look particularly into the life of the greatest servant and our salvation. Jesus, a true servant, who walked out the will of God, to serve on earth, even to the point of death!
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Phil 2:6-7
To have a servant’s heart is to be like Jesus, constantly looking for ways you can give to others. Constantly seeking the needs of others and providing the help.
Now this isn’t to say that you should pour yourself out haphazardly, a huge part of being a faithful servant is to be in communion with God. That is to be walking with him closely and allow him to guide you to those who he has equipped you to help, much as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:5:
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
As a servant of God, he will lead you to help others. If you have cultivated the heart of a servant then you will be readily available to go where he says go and to help who he says to help.
Reading bible verses about serving others in need and serving can encourage you to find the joy found in serving the lord through serving others. In his word we not only learn what he has to say about serving, but we can also gain inspiration for growing in having a servant’s heart and in finding new ways to serve those in our community and share the love of God with those you encounter daily.
What does the God say about serving others?
The first place we should always go when deciding how to proceed in life on any topic is the bible. Understanding God’s intention for any habit or activity is the best way to truly grow in an area of our lives. Learning more about serving others is no different.
Throughout the Old and New Testament there are multiple bible verses about serving others for us to study, however, the best example of serving others in the bible is the life of Jesus.
Jesus’ entire purpose in life was service. He came to earth, from his place on high with God, to give to us. Humans who have no possible way of paying him back. He left everything to live among us and show us the best way to live and to claim the victory over death and sin that had been present on earth since the fall of humanity.
Bible verses about Serving others
Studying God’s word can encourage us to take the next step in our Christian walk and reject self-serving motives and instead begin looking outward to how we can be a blessing versus focusing inward on how God can bless us. Let’s check out these important bible verses about serving others below.
Serving others brings Glory to Jesus
As each has received a gift, use it to sere one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything god may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen
1 Peter 4:10-11
When we serve others based on the blessings and giftings that God has given us we are given an opportunity to praise God and his goodness to others. In doing this we are bringing attention and glory to God. This bible verse about serving others reminds us that allowing our life to highlight the goodness and mercy of God allows us to minister to others with our actions.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Romans 14:17-19
When we serve others, we are ourselves being built up, but we are also building up others! This heart to serve brings glory to Jesus as our outward actions give a practical experience of Jesus to those who may not know him.
Serving others is a blessing
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Acts 20:35
There is blessing attached to serving others. The benefits of serving include many of the fruits of the spirit. When we help those in needs, our capacity for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control grows. This growth is a blessing as are lives become billboards again for the glory of God and his ability to work in and through each of us.
We were commanded to serve others
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 1:12-14
Blessings aside, we are commanded to serve others. Jesus served, and as followers and disciples of Jesus we must serve. Our life should be a reflection of the life he lived and the life he gave us. When he left the earth he commissioned us to draw all men to him, and there is no better way to do that then to practically give what we can to those in needs.
Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Joshua 22:5
Serving God with all our hearts means growing in humility and going where God calls you to go to be his vessel to reach others!
Having a Servant’s heart helps us grow in humility
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:1-11
When we humble ourselves and think of no job as beneath us, we become more like Christ. This mindset allows us to have empathy for others. To see their needs and to better understand where we can be of service. When we serve others, we get to put aside our situations and circumstances and give to those who are in need.
Denying our own needs and trusting God to provide so that we can give to others increases our humility and our capacity to grow.
We serve God by serving others
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
Proverbs 19:17
We often hear that we should be the hands and feet of Jesus, but what does that really mean? Well, to be the hands and feet of Jesus on earth is to do his will and work. Knowing that while on earth Jesus served the Father by serving the people gives us a greater understanding of how we should be modeling our own life.
Jesus poured out everything he had for the will of God. He connected often to the father and then proceeded to pour out that provision. If we do the same we can truly live out the calling to be his hands and feet.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Phil 2:3-5
This verse encourages us to be intentional in seeking ways to express a servants heart!
We please God when we help others
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Hebrews 13:16
As children of God, our greatest desire should be to hear God say “well done,” when our time on Earth is over. Serving others and participating in the will of God to care for those who need help is the greatest way to please God. Serving others as if we are serving God with a cheerful heart bring pride to the Father.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; …
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
God is Love, and when we serve others within our sphere of influence, we a pleasing God! We are sharing him with others! As expressed in this scripture about serving others, this is one of the greatest things we can do to advance God’s kingdom!
These scripture references about serving others remind us that there is joy in serving others. When we embrace a servant’s heart and really seek out opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus we can impact the world in so many meaningful ways!
What is the importance of serving others?
Volunteering in your community and serving others connects you to those around you in ways you may not have otherwise connected. These meaningful relationships have the potential to significantly improve your mental health. As you make new friends and deepen existing connections you will find your mood lifting and the tilt towards stress and anxiety dissipating.
Volunteering also gives you a sense of purpose, and for those of us who seek to be like Jesus, it allows us to manifest the great commission to share the good news to the ends of the earth. It is impossible to share Jesus with someone without also meeting their physical need.
Serving those in need isn’t only something that benefits the community you are offering service to. It’s a huge part of improving your mental health! Volunteering helps counteract the effects of stress and anxiety!
How do I determine how to serve others?
There are times when we aren’t quite sure what to do to help others. With so many needs in the world, and so many broken people, the shear thought of serving can be paralyzing.
One way to determine how to serve is to just jump right The first is to just jump in and try something out! The other is to ask yourself a few questions to narrow down your heart for the community. Ask yourself a few questions.
- Who do I feel called to serve?
- Do I know my spiritual gifts?
- What breaks my heart?
- What skills do I have?
- How much time do I have to serve?
Answering these questions can help you significantly in determining where in this list you can make the most impact.
Practical ways to serve others
Below is a list of different ways that you can help in the community and serve those around you. As human beings we should always be aware of the needs of others and seek ways to build the kingdom of God practically.
That means loving others in the ways Jesus loved us. Whether it is the sick and shut-in, children, the elderly, or the homeless, find a community that needs help and serve joyfully.
- Donate to a food pantry
- Make a donation to a women and children center
- Create non perishable bagged lunches for homeless
- Join a church serve group
- Make blankets for homeless shelters/hospitals
- Crochet or knit fiddle cuffs for nursing home residents
- Weed a local community garden
- Purchase groceries for an elderly neighbor
- Do yard work for elderly neighbor
- Offer to help a new mom with freezer meals
- Offer prayer for a local ICU or NICU
- Donate stuffed animals to children in hospitals
- Make a donation to goodwill or salvation army
- Volunteer to walk the dogs at the local animal shelter
- Spend time at a soup kitchen
- Donate or raise money for your local Red Cross
- Read to someone who is visually impaired
- Help register people to vote
- Help deliver gifts to patients at the hospital
- Pick up medicine for an elderly neighbor
- Help sort donations at a homeless center
- Become a big buddy for children at a homeless center
- Make first aid kits for homeless shelters
- Organize a winter clothes drive
- Pray for the lost or brokenhearted
- Read to children in the foster system
- Become a victim advocate for foster children
- Help with Habitat for Humanity
- Volunteer with a suicide hotline
- Help with a children’s ministry
- Volunteer as elderly transportation
- Consider donating to Meals on Wheels
It doesn’t matter whether you have a lot of time or just a few moments in your day, giving is always an option. Serving others is an act of love, as it sets an example for future generations of people. Remember that we are called to spread the word, advance God’s kingdom and do our part in bringing a little more light into this world. So don’t give up on faith, but instead strive to find meaningful ways to use the gifts God gave you to continue to serve your community and spread God’s unfailing love.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
You never know what blessings await you as a result! If you are looking for help finding ways to get involved in your local church or community, reach out and make contact with someone today who might be able to point you in the right direction – there are many opportunities available. However great or small, you will be making a difference when it comes to serving God and others.
Thank you for this list. I feel bad because I don’t have time to volunteer outside of the house but I can definitely crochet things and donate.