{"id":857,"date":"2020-03-21T15:55:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T20:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/lytlecenter\/?p=857"},"modified":"2020-03-23T08:51:37","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T13:51:37","slug":"thriving-in-crisis-serving-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/lytlecenter\/2020\/03\/21\/thriving-in-crisis-serving-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Thriving in Crisis: Serving Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of America’s most classic and endearing films, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” we witness a main character (George Bailey) who has big dreams for success but also an immense heart for people. \u00a0His heart for serving others and standing up for the underdog often overrides his career dreams and he soon ends up finding himself in the midst of what he<\/em> considered “failure.”<\/p>\n

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It’s a Wonderful Life, directed by Frank Capra (1946)<\/p><\/div>\n

Questioning his own self-worth, he is given a unique opportunity (by an angel) to see a parallel world of what it would look like had he never been born. \u00a0What George sees in this parallel world is darkness and despair for his friends and his hometown. \u00a0While the film has an abundance of unique value statements, one central message is that there is immeasurable impact created by consistent acts of service to others. \u00a0Acts of service give us an opportunity to create virtuous cycles that send waves of reciprocated positive behavior throughout a social network.<\/p>\n

The Power of Serving Others<\/strong><\/p>\n

We began our series on Thriving in Crisis<\/em> by encouraging a consistent daily routine<\/a>. \u00a0Assuming you’ve taken steps in establishing this healthy daily schedule, we now want to promote critical lifestyle practices important for anyone desiring to not just get by, but to actually thrive. \u00a0This post is about the value of integrating service into your daily life. \u00a0There is incredible power unleashed when you serve someone and that power is not just for the person(s) you’re serving, but also for you as an individual.<\/p>\n

So what is service?<\/strong> \u00a0According to Dictionary.com<\/a>, service<\/em> is an “act of helpful activity,” while Merriam-Webster<\/a> defines it as a “contribution to the welfare of others.” \u00a0These definitions point to a type of value creation directed at someone outside of yourself. \u00a0In social psychology, service is sometimes referred to as prosocial behavior, or “a broad range of actions intended to benefit one or more people other than oneself\u2013behaviors such as helping, comforting, sharing, and cooperation” (Batson & Powell, 2003<\/a>). \u00a0In the organizational sciences, service is usually termed organizational citizenship behavior (or OCBs). \u00a0Podsakoff and colleagues (2000)<\/a> outlined these behaviors and I’ve included a few relevant dimensions below:<\/p>\n

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  1. Helping (assisting others overcome challenges and work-related problems)<\/li>\n
  2. Sportsmanship (working without whining or complaining)<\/li>\n
  3. Individual initiative (doing more than expected or required – going above and beyond)<\/li>\n
  4. Self-development (voluntary actions to better oneself in knowledge, skills, and abilities, for the sake of others or your organization)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Across all of these definitions and dimensions there is a key theme regarding service that emerges: \u00a0action that is outward-focused. \u00a0It means you are doing something primarily for the benefit and goodwill of another person or group of people. \u00a0When we serve, we look outside of ourself, beyond our own problems, and seek to bring value to others.<\/p>\n

    \"LookChristian service.<\/strong>\u00a0 Throughout Scripture, service is the modus operandi<\/em> for God’s people. \u00a0It is indeed the Christian way of life. \u00a0Even a cursory glance through the New Testament would give most readers a pretty clear indication that serving others is a given if you choose to follow Jesus. When an expert in Jewish law confronted Jesus and asked him what the greatest commandment in the law is, Jesus said the first is to love God with everything in your being and the second is to “love your neighbor as yourself” – He puts an exclamation point on it by then saying, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:34-40\u00a0via Bible Gateway<\/a>). \u00a0Basically, Jesus says the entirety of what was written in the Old Testament is summed up in loving God and loving others. Now that’s profound! The biblical writer James (who happened to be Jesus’ half-brother) gives us a more practical look at Christian service when he writes, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: \u00a0to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27 via Bible Gateway<\/a>). Author and speaker Timothy Keller refers to this Christian mindset as “self forgetfulness” (we highly recommend his short book, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path To True Christian Joy <\/a><\/em>or free on mp3<\/a>). \u00a0There’s really no way around this fact, if you follow Jesus you are a servant, it’s who you are called to be. \u00a0It’s an identity that has followed Christians for the past 2,000 years.<\/p>\n

    The shocking benefits of service.<\/strong> \u00a0It’s seems obvious that acts of service help the people who are being served. \u00a0When we look outside of ourselves for ways to create value for others, walk with them in times of need, and assist them in finding resources to meet their needs, most times the people that are being helped are better off. \u00a0The twist here, however, is that not only are those on the receiving end of the acts of service benefiting, the person engaged in the service as well as the environment they are operating in are better off as well. Take a look at just a few of these research highlights:<\/p>\n