40-Days to Servanthood: Day 17

Don’t overlook the service of small things.

One of my seminary professors used to tell us, “I’m certain that if you were asked to give your life for Christ, you would all do it. But when our next class break happens, I wonder if you’ll just as willingly allow the other person to line up at the drinking fountain ahead of you?”

Happily, most of us will never be martyrs for our faith. But we are called to respond to God’s love in thousands of little moments. Many of those moments will give us opportunities to serve that will seem unimportant and easily ignored.

Richard Foster tells of being in graduate school, desperate to write his doctoral dissertation, when a friend from church called him. The man was without a car that day and needed to do some errands. Could Foster take him where he needed to go?

With unspoken resentment, Foster agreed to help the man. Just before climbing into his car, he picked up his copy of Life Together, a book about Christian community written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

With each new errand, Foster’s resentment at being forced to do these piddling tasks with his friend grew. When they came to a grocery store, Foster told the man he’d wait for him in the car. He pulled out Bonhoeffer’s book and read these words: “The second service that one should perform...is that of active helpfulness...simple assistance in trifling, external matters...Nobody is too good for the meanest service...” No service is trifling in the Kingdom of God!

Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln were lifelong rivals. They had courted the same woman; Lincoln won. They ran for the same US Senate seat; Douglas won. They both ran for President in 1860; Lincoln won. At Lincoln’s inauguration, a story, that may be apocryphal, says that there was an awkward moment when the new president didn’t know where to put his hat. Douglas stepped forward and told Lincoln that if he couldn’t be president, he could at least hold the president’s hat.

Whether the story is true or not, never be afraid to be the person who holds someone’s hat. Don’t overlook the service of small things!

Bible Passage to Ponder: “So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith” (Galatians 6:10).