You are here on Earth to serve. If you want your work to be a ministry, you have to be willing to lend a helping hand in a practical way—and you can assist people in hundreds of ways. Years ago someone started a ministry at our church called People Helping People. Folks simply helped others in their area of expertise or interest, whether it was home repair, plumbing, gardening, housekeeping, auto repair, or accounting.

Helping others doesn’t have to be complicated. Just use what you know how to do to help other people. That’s called ministry! Every opportunity to meet a need is simply a way to show God’s love. This is true even—and especially—when it comes to your workplace and your co-workers.

Jesus said, “Your attitude must be like my own, for I, the Messiah, did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28 TLB).

It’s our nature to want to be served. I want to be served. I want people to wait on me. I want people to do things for me. Yet the mark of a Christian is the desire to serve. The Spirit of Christ is service and giving yourself away.

Who in your office or at your worksite is barely hanging on by a thread? Make it your business to know. That’s what being a Christian is all about! There are people all around you who are hurting. Behind their smile, they’re dying under the weight of some hurt or burden. God wants you to be the one to lift them up and show them his love.

You might say, “But I’ve got problems, too. I’ve got things to do. I’ve got goals to achieve. I don’t have time for ministry.” If you don’t have time to help anybody else, your life is too self-centered. It’s that simple. God did not put you here to live only for yourself. If you’re too busy for ministry, then you are just too busy.

Being a Christian means accepting people unconditionally, affirming people continually, and assisting people eagerly. God wants us to help others.