studies on First Corinthians at Lord Let Me Grow.
PLEASE, MAKE ME A SERVANT
“As a man was driving his car, he saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road. He saw she needed help. So, he stopped his Pontiac near her Mercedes and got out.
He smiled while he was approaching her, but still she was worried, since nobody had stopped for hours. He did not look safe. His appearance was so poor and shabby. He could see how frightened she was, so he tried to calm her: ‘I‘m here to help you, don‘t worry. My name is Bryan Anderson’.
The tire was flat, so he had to crawl under the car. While changing the tire, he got dirty and his hands were hurt. When the job was done, she asked how much she owed him for his help. Bryan smiled. He said, ‘If you really want to pay me back, the next time you see someone who needs help, give that person the needed assistance. And think of me.’
At the same evening, the lady stopped by a small cafe. The place looked dingy. Then she saw a waitress, nearly eight months pregnant, wiping her wet hair with a towel. The waitress had a sweet, friendly smile, although she had been on her feet the whole day. The lady wondered how someone, who has so little, could be so kind and giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.
The lady had finished her meal and paid with a hundred-dollar bill. The waitress went to get change. When she came back, the lady was gone. She left a note on the napkin: ‘You don‘t owe me anything. Somebody once helped me, just like now I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, do not let this chain of love end with you.’ The waitress found four more hundred-dollar bills under the napkin.
That night when the waitress went home, she was thinking about the lady and the money she left. She was wondering how the lady could know how much she and her husband needed it, especially now since the baby would soon arrive. She knew that her husband worried about that, so she was glad to tell him the good news. Then she kissed him and whispered, ‘Now everything will be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.’”
At least five people are called “a servant” by God—Abraham, Moses, Caleb, Job, and Zerubbabel. None of them were called a servant specifically because they did some act of service like the people in our story. They were servants because of how they lived.
The New Oxford American Dictionary defines servant as “one who performs duties for others; a devoted and helpful follower or supporter.” There is more to being a servant that just performing an act of service. It is an overall attitude of a submissive spirit. It is total compliance to God and His Word.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said it this way. “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
Each of the men mentioned were servants because they obeyed God and lived each day doing the things He instructed. They all sinned, but their lives are remembered for their striving to live lives pleasing to God.
Being a servant is more than stopping on the road to help a stranger or leaving a big tip. It is about seeing a need and using your obedient faith to make life better for those around you.
Though the good Samaritan is a parable, it is a story obviously possible both during the time of Christ and on into the present. When you look at some of the New Testament passages of Scripture, we can see what God had in mind for us.
Jesus said, “Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42).
Paul told the Galatians, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we need to keep serving. “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do” (Hebrews 6:10). Also, in Hebrews 13 the writer says, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
Our aim in life should be to live with the purpose to be a servant, to show mercy and kindness, and to make a difference. We can accomplish that by living each day in obedience to God and His commandments. Serve. Be His representative to the world. Be salt and light to everyone we meet.
Sandra Oliver