LETTER 5 - A DISCIPLE IS A SERVANT
Dear Redeemer Family,
I want you to serve others.
I want you to place
others before the cultivation of your own self.
This is one thing my Lord has taught me.
As a boy, and a teen, I served in some ways in my parents’
house. I helped out, usually upon being asked, and took out garbage, shoveled
snow, and mowing the lawn. When I could drive I ran errands for my mother. I
served in my parents’ home. But I did not have the heart of a servant. That
came in the spring of 1970.
That was when I got saved. Jesus was now my Lord, and I was
His apprentice. I was enrolled in the Lifetime School of Jesus. This was, and
remains, exhilarating to me!
Part of me was anticipating doing big things for Jesus.
Jesus, on the other hand, was teaching me small things. While in God’s eyes it
is no small thing to be a servant, a servant specializes in small things. Like
doing the dishes.
On a Sunday, in the spring of 1970, I sat with my father
and mother at our dinner table. Church was over, and we went home and ate the
meal my mother had prepared for us.
After eating, I left the kitchen and went into our family
room to watch sports on TV. This was my habit. Little did I know this was to forever
change, on that great day in the School of Jesus.
A new though came to me. One I had never heard before or,
if heard, then never attended to. It was: “Go back in the kitchen and help your
mother clean up.” I knew this was God, instructing me.
I lifted my body off the family room couch and went back
into the kitchen. “Mom,” I said, “let me do the dishes today.”
My parents were raised in a patriarchal culture. Making
meals and cleaning up afterwards were thing the women did. Some of my mother’s
self-worth came from cooking, cleaning, and making the house look good.
“No, Johnny,” she said, “you go back and watch TV.”
“Mom, I’m going to do the dishes!”
I insisted on this. After protesting, she gave in. Little
did we both realize that I just advanced in the School of Jesus. I became a
servant in my father’s and mother’s house. I consider this one of the greatest
things Jesus has ever done for me.
Jesus, my Lord, once said to his disciples, "The Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people."
Above our kitchen sink is a window. Through the window I see the beautiful pine trees in our backyard. My bird feeders are there. My mother used to love feeding and watching birds. So do I. Here I am today, like mother, like son. I wash dishes. I do this gladly, with joy and thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
I want you to serve others.
I want you to place
others before your own desires.
Love,
PJ
DECLARATIONS
Just as my Lord Jesus came to serve others, so do I.
I love serving in the name of Jesus!
I place my desires behind the needs of people.
I am learning more and more about servanthood every day.
I am a servant in my church family.
I wash dishes to the glory of God.
When it comes to serving, I take the initiative.