At Your Service

It's hot. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 degrees with a dewpoint of "STAY INSIDE." You're walking home from the market with an armload of essentials --six pounds of macaronis and a dozen large cans of crushed tomatoes-- and a neighbor pulls up. He lowers the window and you can feel the cold blast from the AC chilling the sidewalk. "Would you like a ride?" he calls. What is your response?

Sure! Right? Maybe not. If you're like me, there'd have to be a hole in the bag and a red hot poker in the other hand to jump in. Why is that? Pride. Self-sufficiency. Control.

I grew up knowing you didn't "impose on people." You cut their lawn but never expected --or even wanted them to return the favor. If someone was giving you a ride during typhoon season, you sat outside in said typhoon so as not to "make them wait" even a second while you locked the door to the house and ran to the car. You were always "a cut above" when it came to you behavior and your self-sufficiency. The greatest shame was to have someone call you a freeloader or a slouch. 

And it was not only as foolish as it sounds, but it was very wrong.

In Acts 20:35, Paul refers to his labors for Christ and for those to whom he ministered: "It is better to give than to receive," he says. But never did he say receiving was wrong. He meant that he worked to provide for himself and those who accompanied him; he supported those who truly were weaker. He blessed them, I'm sure; but it was a blessing to Paul as well. The verses that follow show the depth of the relationships he developed as he traveled, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He formed lifelong bonds and had the privilege of watching people receive Jesus that they might pour out His love on others. Paul is, I speculate, one of those in a great cloud of witnesses that sees the fruit of his labors as people everyday, all over the world, read the words God spoke through him. Is there a more humbling experience than to not have control over the tears of others for you? Is there a more humbling experience than to receive such love and affirmation from others? 

Even Jesus Himself received. Could the God of all Creation have come to earth any other way but as a helpless infant? Of course! But He chose the womb of a young woman who wrapped her arms across her growing belly, who nursed Him at her breast, who cleaned His bottom and wiped His nose and even stroked His brow as He slept. She gave all any fallible, human mother knew to give her sweet son, and He received. No judgment. No criticism. No control. 

The Bible talks quite a bit about receiving. And rejecting. John 13:1-9 relates the washing of the Disciples' feet before Jesus went to the cross. Peter refuses --one might think, humbly. In truth, Peter was refusing the lesson Jesus was giving: that even the Son of Man came to serve, and that those who are called to lead must know how to be led. Peter could see that one of superior rank does not wash the feet of one inferior, but he couldn't see how his refusal was an attempt to control the situation. Jesus could, and He put it to Peter in terms he could understand, "If I don't do this, you are not part of Me. We do not share the same goal --to love; we do not share the same conduct --to serve; we do not share the same attitude --selflessness." 

The most difficult part of a relationship can sometimes be the receiving. Receiving can be a way of saying I lack. Receiving can be a way of saying I trust. Receiving can be a way of saying I am relinquishing control and allowing you to bless me in whatever way you see fit. 

How will you allow yourself to be served today?