The year was 2009 and so many things had occurred quickly. I was in a marriage that ended, took a major hiatus from my Corporate career at the time, and I resigned from Christian Education, my heart. I believe it was time to truly find myself AGAIN at the tender age of 30yrs. If this were a history book it would read “it was the best of times, it was the worst of time”. I had a lot of growing to do and in my BIG brain I was already grown. In the Summer of 2009, I met a woman who taught me the phrase “reasonable service”. We worked on various programs together that Summer and it was a tremendous blessing to vibe with her. She never complained and just flowed with the directives given. Whenever, I said thank you, her response was always and still today, “Reasonable Service”! I think about this Lenten Season and the weeks to come being Holy Week, Easter, then Pentecost I wonder what services are we truly rendering and to who?
Scripture teaches us in several passages that we are to be servants. Not the type who brag about good deeds trying to score points to enter Heaven. Yet those who carry out tasks naturally and keep it moving. Prior to this Lenten season I read numerous times how people would brag about fasting and prayer, helping others in need, volunteering at shelters and such. I applaud them however we should observe and be obedient in these moments and not act like those Pharisees we have read about.
Reasonable services are those little things 😊Jesus did in His 3 ½ years of ministry. Healing the sick, raising the dead, feeding thousands, merely just walking through the crowds and people just believing to be healed. He didn’t announce it on social media, yet it made “Breaking News”! In these last few weeks of Lenten, I want to challenge you beyond anything you could imagine. When you begin to think on what it is that you can do, think of one of the most humbling experiences exercised by Jesus. I could not have made this scenario up even if I tried. Please take a moment to read John 13:1-7, on your own. He shows how a servant loves and the love for service. Our Lord rose from supper and laid aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself after that He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciple’s feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Those of us who are called to discipleship have an absolute mandate to serve. Authentic Christian service ignores the arguments about greatness. In this upper room 12 penniless peasants who lived around basically a pond and village that few even heard about sat at the greatest meal in history with the Lord moving toward His destiny under the shadow of the Cross and argued about which of them was the greatest. We can be so simple and attempt to feel important while constantly seeking validation. I am grateful this is not how my Lord operates. It was the custom of the Jewish host to have a basin of water just inside the door and the lowest servant would wash the feet of the guests. Reasonable service at its best as we all know Our Lord and Savior was NOT considered the lowest servant! Imagine further the streets were cobblestone (I am from Memphis so think of dirty Beale St. on a Saturday night) and animals would be led into the same streets. Additionally, there was no sewage system and the sweat from the feet would become mixed with the dust and feet would become dirty and caked with the filth of traveling.
Authentic service avoids the usual excuses about serving. Jesus was about to make the ultimate sacrifice with this death weighing on his mind under the shadow of a Roman cross, He cared enough and loved enough to show you and me how a servant loves and how those that love to serve with reasonable service. Many find excuses not to serve. Some surely say my education, my credentials, my pressed schedule exempts me from serving. Some feel the task to be completed within the church are beneath them. But not our Lord, He did not take the role of a servant because had time for it, He didn’t have a choice, it was a mandate.
After this scene of reasonable service, what will you do to serve others? What can you do that only you and God will understand? Think of your service and how you will enhance it to challenge yourself effortlessly as Jesus did when He washed the feet of His disciples! Remember reasonable service is not for bragging, exulting, validation, etc. It is to be Christ-like as we should always strive to be in life.
Comments