The idea of a servant's heart gives my soul great anticipation to help those in need; the poor, the orphaned, the widow. In so doing I have great moments within my thought processes of everyone coming together to live in unity with the same mind, heart and spirit. Knowing and believing in Jesus as the body of Christ. While many lost people have transformed lives in Christ and make a saving decision for Jesus to forgive their sin and be their Savior.
It is a beautiful picture that lives within my mind. I believe God sets this dream in His follower’s hearts, the dream of perfection and purity as much as it can be formed within our fallen heads. Possibly, it is a dream put there to make us hungry for heaven when it will come true in the finale of Happily Ever After. But as we attempt to live it out, perfection collides with sin in the world. The one's being reached out to may be ungrateful, abusing the system to get their needs met without "doing their part." The body of Christ members do not all have the same ideas as one another. Everyone is not always 100% a willing servant with a humble attitude.
This soul pondering led me to a memory of a truth the Lord taught me through an eternal circumstance he placed in my life. I had just finished reading a book entitled, Hurt Healer, based on the scriptures of the Good Samaritan. It had challenged my heart and transformed my thinking in the area of serving. I had been praying for an opportunity to be used by God as the Good Samaritan to someone. The opportunity came as I drove by a woman and her two young sons standing alongside the road on the outskirts of town. It was cold and the boys were young. I have never stopped to pick someone up, never felt the calling until that moment, on that frigid morning. My son and I prayed in our warm minivan, as we pulled up alongside her to ask if she needed a ride. She was as apprehensive about me as I was about her. She replied that no help was needed but asked for directions to the human service office. I pointed her in the direction of the office which was only across the road. I was compelled to give her my phone number if she needed anything further. I, with nervously shaking hands, handed the paper with my number scratched on it, to her shivering shaking hands as I thought to myself "Whew, I 'm off the hook!"
The morning continued on with running errands while spending time with my oldest son. Within an hour the woman called back. She said that she was desperate and did not know what to do. Because she was from out of state human services could not help her and could only offer her to go to a shelter that would take her and her youngest son; her older son, 12, would have to go to a men's shelter.
I drove to her location while making calls to alert others of what was unfolding just to be safe. My son and I prayed that God would show us what we were to do and guide us through whatever was going to happen with the situation at hand. Her and her sons all climbed into our van and we went the eatery that our family runs downtown, fed the boys, and gave their frazzled mother a drink while she told us her dilemma of being stranded due to a flat tire that she did not have the money to repair. As the day drew on we found out much that continually made the situation messier and messier, at times communicating with law enforcement to see if an involvement with them was necessary. Hours were spent making calls to figure out the best way to help this desperate family. Shelters were full everywhere. The car could not be fixed and was being impounded. She had enough money for one night's hotel stay but then what? She had no family she had grown up in and out of foster homes. Hard questions were asked to this woman to gain knowledge in order to find a solution.
It was there as I sat there up to my eyeballs in this woman's messy life the Lord began to change my heart; my thinking. You see I thought I was going to do the good Christian girl thing and pick up a lady on the side of the road give her a ride and be on her way. She would have a solution and I would have done my duty. But that is not what the Lord requires of a servant. This woman was out of options. She was down to her last one; a spot on the side of the road. If she had options she and her children would not have been on the side of the road on a cold Iowa morning. They would have called home, transferred money, swiped the credit card, fixed the vehicle, or called a friend.
The Lord wants his followers to walk the way he walked to the cross. He was not dying for the innocent. He was dying innocent, for the guilty. The reasons he chose to go to the cross were messy, desperate, and to a species who had no other options. He saw and was up to his eyeballs in the details of the mess of humanity. It was not a walk to the cross that would be a pretty cup of tea for him. He was not going to do his duty so we could be on our way. No it went much further than that. Jesus cross walk and crucifixion cost him terrible pain, suffering, and death. As I was in the middle of this God scene in my life the truth came. As a servant I am called to do the same.
Jesus made it clear to lay my life down in those hours, as my former agenda for the day began to fade. It was a list that had consisted of running a business, the continual mountain of laundry and pile of dishes, children that needed help with homework, a husband to reconnect with after a long day of high demands at work, preparing dinner, with all of the above infused with phone calls, text messages, and e-mails. Not to mention I get tired; I would need sleep. My instinct is to think in my flesh. To think things like, "I am not flowing with unlimited financial resources. I do not have all the answers, for crying out loud most days I barely have my own life together, let along thinking about fixing the woman alongside the road dilemma's!" As human control and flesh began to die the sweetness of the Holy Spirit fell among us all. I told the woman, "This whole day and its circumstances have happened because Jesus loves you. I am a selfish sinner without answers or options. And at that moment we became equal, both desperate souls standing on the side of life's road waiting for a Savior's rescue. The undeniable love of Jesus was had once again come to me and possibly for the first time been evident to her.
Soon, we all awkwardly crammed back into our minivan while the song, “Waiting for the World to Change” played on the radio. It was a surreal moment as we listened to the words melodically coming forth out of the speakers. It was as if God was saying, "You were waiting for change; change is here." Change for the woman and her boys named mercy, and for me and mine named taking up our cross.
Why did I expect this woman's life to be put together? Why did I assume that serving like Jesus would be easy and cost me nothing? In those hours I learned that in serving one must roll up their sleeves, be humbled and allow flesh to die, let go of expectations and walk as Jesus walked for us all. We only need to show up as a character in His story and ask the question, “Lord what is my part?" Then take our position and allow him to teach our roles.
After long hours the Lord provided a solution to send the family to their original destination. A sense of relief was felt by all as we rested and waited for time to pass until departure. In the wee hours of the morning the woman and her sons with their meager life belongings and Ziplocs filled with peanut butter and jelly, boarded the big Grey Hound. My husband and I sat in a teary exhausted silence as we drove out of the city. Servant hood, Jesus way, I'll do any day....
As we enter into the giving season how is Jesus challenging your heart to trust him and learn how he serves in the lives of others?
