Faith and Service Belief Structures
Rev. Carl Rawls

In every faith lies a foundation for servant-hood.  There is a spiritual connection between mankind and service.  It represents a spiritual maturity when one is able to live for the sake of others.  There is a sense of inner accomplishment when people can serve others because their faith encourages them to do so.  For some, there is a strong connection between the two, emphasizing that without faith there’s no service and without service there’s no faith.  In Christianity, the Scripture says, “Faith without work is dead.”

Faith and service is a means of giving not receiving.  It is giving and not looking for anything in return such as great notoriety or substantial reward.  The reward comes from being able to serve.  Service is purest whe584n seeking to build up others without expectation of benefit.

Faith and service have no boundaries.  It is there for whomever has a spiritual understanding of the call to service.  It doesn’t matter about creed, color, nationality or belief.  What matters is one is willing to go beyond any differences in belief (religion) and set aside certain things for the opportunity to serve others. While different religious faiths may operate in their own unique ways there are undoubtedly similarities in the values that inspire service.  The following examples can be found in the “World Scriptures:  A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts.”

• “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” 
  (Christianity.  1 Corinthians 10:24)
• “Rendering help to another is the function of all human beings.” 
  (Jainism.  Tattvarthasutra 5:21)
• “All men are responsible for one another.” 
  (Judaism.  Talmud, Sanhedrin 27b)
• “The best of men are those who are useful to others.”
  (Islam.  Hadith of Bukhari)
• “Without selfless service are no objectives fulfilled; in service lies the purest action.”  
  (Sikhism. Adi Granth Maru, M.1, p. 992)
• “The man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others.
  (Confucianism. Analects 6.28.2)
• “I tell you these things that you may learn wisdom; that you may learn that when you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of your God.” 
  (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Book of Mormon, Mosiah 2.17)