10/20/2026
What if we’ve misunderstood what it really means to serve God?
I wonder sometimes if we’ve made serving God more about finding fulfillment for ourselves than actually surrendering ourselves to Him.
Think about that for a moment.
We want to serve God, but we want to serve Him where we want to serve. We want to do the things we’re passionate about, the things we enjoy, the things that make us feel like we’re making a difference.
And somewhere along the way, we begin to believe that if we’re going to be fulfilled in serving God, we have to be doing something that fulfills us.
But what if we’ve gotten that backward?
What if fulfillment was never supposed to be the reason we serve, but the result of surrendering to the One we’re serving?
See, when we talk about dying to ourselves, we often think about laying down the obvious sins in our lives. And while that’s certainly part of it, following Jesus requires something much deeper.
Sometimes what needs to die isn’t something sinful we’re doing. Sometimes it’s something good we want to do, but it’s not what God is asking of us.
It’s my plans. My desires. My ambitions. My idea of what my life and ministry should look like.
And sometimes, if we’re not careful, we can become so focused on finding the place where we feel fulfilled that we overlook the very place where God is calling us to make a difference.
Because the greatest impact of your life won’t necessarily come from doing what you love. It will come from loving God enough to do what He’s called you to do.
And here’s what I’m beginning to understand.
Maybe the question was never supposed to be, “Where can I serve God and feel the most fulfilled?”
Maybe the question should have always been, “God, where is there a need that You are calling me to meet?”
Because serving God was never meant to be about building a life around what makes me happy. It’s about surrendering my life so that His heart becomes my heart.
His burden becomes my burden.
And what matters to Him begins to matter more to me than what I originally wanted for myself.
Jesus said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 8:34)
Notice, He didn’t say to follow Him wherever it feels most fulfilling. He said to deny ourselves and follow Him.
And I believe there’s something beautiful that happens when we finally get to that place.
When we stop trying to find fulfillment and start walking in obedience, we begin discovering a fulfillment we could never have manufactured for ourselves.
Not because every assignment is easy. Not because every place He calls us is comfortable. But because there’s something deeply satisfying about knowing your life is being poured out for what matters to the heart of God.
Maybe the fulfillment we’ve been searching for is waiting on the other side of the surrender we’ve been resisting.
And maybe the greatest thing God wants to do through us begins when we’re finally willing to let go of what we’ve been wanting Him to do for us.
Because at the end of the day, we’re not called to serve God so that we can be fulfilled.
We’re called to surrender to God, love people, and meet the needs He’s placed before us.
And somewhere in that surrender, we discover that the life we were trying so hard to find was never found in getting our way.
It was found in giving Him our yes.
- Tristan Miller
