A willingness to be served by others can also be an act of servanthood.
Let me tell you about a man I once knew. His sudden death, seemingly in the prime of life, came as a shock to everyone. One phrase was used repeatedly to describe him: "He was a nice guy.” I knew that this was true. But I knew something else: He had been unhappy.
"I'm everybody's doormat," Mr. Nice Guy once said. "I don’t mind doing things for others. But I never seem able to muster the courage to ask anyone else to help me."
Often, nice-guyism is at least partially motivated not by love for others and certainly not by a desire to respond to God’s love given to us through Christ, but by a desire to feel important.
Richard Foster writes of the night Jesus spent with the apostles before He was arrested: “When Jesus began to wash the feet of those he loved, Peter refused. He would never let his Master stoop to such a menial service on his behalf. It sounds like a statement of humility; in reality it was an act of veiled pride. Jesus’ service was an affront to Peter’s concept of authority. If Peter had been the master, he would not have washed feet!”
As a pastor, I’m often given special treatment by other Christians. Because of that, I try to incorporate service into my daily relationships. At a wedding reception one night, I was going to refrain from getting my food, which was being served cafeteria-style, until everybody else had theirs. But as I sat at my seat, the bride’s father approached me. “What would you like to eat, pastor?” he asked. “You don’t have to get my meal,” I told him. A somewhat hurt expression crossed his face. He said, “I know I don’t have to do it. But I want to do it.” It would have been the cruelest act of arrogance on my part not to let that man serve my food to me.
A willingness to be served by others can also be an act of servanthood.
Bible Passage to Ponder: “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me...She has done what she could” (Mark 14:6, 8).
Showing posts with label Richard Foster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Foster. Show all posts
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
40-Days to Servanthood: Day 17
In finding your area of servanthood, 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 work on his doctoral dissertation written one day, when a friend from church called him. The man had no 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, just to have something to read. With each succeeding errand he did with his friend, Foster’s resentment at being forced to do these piddling tasks 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, there was reportedly 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.
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).
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 work on his doctoral dissertation written one day, when a friend from church called him. The man had no 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, just to have something to read. With each succeeding errand he did with his friend, Foster’s resentment at being forced to do these piddling tasks 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, there was reportedly 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.
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).
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