After the Israelites had secured a territory for their nation to settle down, their leader Joshua assembled the elders, leaders, judges and officials of all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. In his address Joshua brings up the question as to who they are going to serve. Interestingly he does not say: “either serve the Lord or take a vacation”. Instead he says: “whom would you prefer to serve?” Not serving at all is not even an option. Why?

Everything is interconnected. We affect each other – both in good ways and bad – whether we look at human societies or ecosystems; the tiniest part of any system plays an important role and ultimately affects everything. And so we serve each other in some capacity: we either tear each other down or we build each other up.

The Trinity is the epitome of collaboration. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit serve each other well. Following are some highlights outlining how the Trinity operates:

• The Son has the Father’s back; John 3:35: “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.”
• Father and Son are seamlessly working together; John 5:17: “In his defense Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’”
• Jesus loves to imitate His Father; John 5:19: “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.’”
• The Father shows His Son everything – no secrets are kept; John 5:20: “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.”
• The Father turns all authority of judging over to His Son; John 5:22: “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,”
• The Holy Spirit serves as Jesus’s representative after His departure from planet Earth; John 14:26: “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
• The Holy Spirit came down and stayed with Jesus at the onset of His ministry; Luke 3:22: “and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
• Jesus listens to the Holy Spirit and follows Him into the wilderness; Luke 4:1: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.”
• Jesus is very protective of the Holy Spirit; Luke 12:10: “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

The Trinity is the first network there is and everything God created mirrors that. The universe was made by a serving Trinity, no wonder we are created interdependent.  And while we are wired to serve one another, it is still up to us how we serve. It all hinges on our outlook on life. Whom do we look up to? Whom do we admire? That’s the one we serve.

We can look up to the Trinity as our role model, or we can look down to the unholy trinity – me myself and I – become self-serving and abuse the world around us. The choice is ours. Like night and day, there is a big difference between serving ourselves and serving the Lord. We basically choose to be either a blessing or a curse.

We will always serve – so let us make the right decision as to whom we are serving.