Many years ago, as we drove back from a visit with Keith’s parents in Northwest Arkansas, we stopped in a small town for gas. It was an older station, no convenience store attached, just the usual glass-windowed office and two service bays. Before Keith could get out of the car, a young man ran out and asked which octane level we wanted, and proceeded to fill the tank. The boys, who were young teenagers, were amazed.
“Wow!” one of them said. Then he immediately followed it with, “Look Mom! He’s cleaning our windshield!”
Before he was finished, the young man had also checked the oil and battery, added some water to the radiator, and taken our credit card to run it through the machine. He returned with it standing up looking at us from the top of a blue plastic clipboard which held the receipt for Keith to sign. Never once did we have to get out of the car. I immediately flashed back to my own childhood, when pumping gas was for attendants at “service” stations, which did not have to advertise themselves as “full service”—everyone understood that was what you got when you stopped there, something neither of my boys had ever seen in their lives.
And that is what a Christian is supposed to be—a “full service” station. Christians focus on the needs of others; they fill the needs they see without being asked; they even go beyond what is expected. As Jesus told his followers, If you love them that love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the same? Matt 5:46,47. Instead of egocentrism, which sees itself as the center of the universe, Christians understand that even their own lives are not about them, but about others.
They know this because of the greatest example of leadership any group has ever had. A leader who counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yes, the death of the cross, Phil 2:6-8. A leader who was willing to do the dirty work, not just the foot washing duties of the lowliest of servants, but also taking on the filthy load of our sins, a load we all contributed to.
For this reason we serve. For this reason we gladly serve. For this reason we serve fully, wearing ourselves out with serving, even unto death.
You call me Teacher, and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Amen and amen, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither one that is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them, John 13:13-17.
Dene Ward
“Wow!” one of them said. Then he immediately followed it with, “Look Mom! He’s cleaning our windshield!”
Before he was finished, the young man had also checked the oil and battery, added some water to the radiator, and taken our credit card to run it through the machine. He returned with it standing up looking at us from the top of a blue plastic clipboard which held the receipt for Keith to sign. Never once did we have to get out of the car. I immediately flashed back to my own childhood, when pumping gas was for attendants at “service” stations, which did not have to advertise themselves as “full service”—everyone understood that was what you got when you stopped there, something neither of my boys had ever seen in their lives.
And that is what a Christian is supposed to be—a “full service” station. Christians focus on the needs of others; they fill the needs they see without being asked; they even go beyond what is expected. As Jesus told his followers, If you love them that love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the same? Matt 5:46,47. Instead of egocentrism, which sees itself as the center of the universe, Christians understand that even their own lives are not about them, but about others.
They know this because of the greatest example of leadership any group has ever had. A leader who counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, yes, the death of the cross, Phil 2:6-8. A leader who was willing to do the dirty work, not just the foot washing duties of the lowliest of servants, but also taking on the filthy load of our sins, a load we all contributed to.
For this reason we serve. For this reason we gladly serve. For this reason we serve fully, wearing ourselves out with serving, even unto death.
You call me Teacher, and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Amen and amen, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither one that is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them, John 13:13-17.
Dene Ward
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