After a busy night and not getting to bed as early as I had hoped, I had planned to sleep in as late as possible. At 6am I was woken up by a friend of mine who needed me to jump start is car due to a dead battery. My first thought was “NO! I want to sleep!” Luckily I was able to hold my tongue and not say this out loud. I quickly got out of my comfortable warm bed, got dressed, and went outside to help get his car started. I couldn’t help but be reminded about the day before when the same friend made the comment that he didn’t know I was a “Church person”. Now this friend of mine who is not a Christian, but now knows that I am, woke me up to help him out. I have no problem helping someone out, believer or not, my only problem was that I was no longer in my warm bed!
The thought of my initial mental reaction bothered me. If I would have said my thoughts out loud and not been willing to help him out (or even not being happy about it), would this allow God’s love to show through me? Absolutely not! Christ calls us to serve others, more than ourselves! Philippians 2:3-4 says “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
My initial reaction was not regarding his needs as more important than mine. The Bible is full of verses reminding us to serve others and love our neighbor (Galatians 5:13-14, Acts 20:35, Mark 10:44-45, Mark 9:35, and many more). On one hand, I was glad that I did put my selfish desires aside and went to help him, but is it enough to just do what is right. How we do what we do can make a huge difference also. Our body language, expression, and attitude often speak much louder than the words coming out of out mouth.
WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) can be a difficult phrase to remember when faced with a choice to make. An even harder thing to consider, but one that can make even more difference would be HWJDI (How Would Jesus Do It). God is still on the throne, and as judge supreme, he will one day judge us on actions and motives. Did Jesus do what was right by serving others yet making sure they knew that he was inconvenienced by it? Of course not, he served and loved others more than himself. He has set the example for us to follow. We are to let God’s love shine through us in everything we do.
Today’s events combined with yesterday’s conversation gave me the reminder of this that I needed. Many unbelievers think Christians are people who go to Church on Sunday then don’t do anything different the rest of the week. It is true that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23). We all need to be careful of the image we are portraying to the rest of the world.
Love your neighbor as yourself. Serve Him by serving other (Matthew 25:40)
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all,
now and evermore.
Amen.