Have you seen that show called “Dirty Jobs” on the Discovery Channel? It’s always interesting to see what kind of dirty job they’re going to show next. If you who haven’t seen it, that’s the show where the host, Mike Rowe, goes around the country to do some of the most dirty jobs there are along side those who’ve chosen to make those jobs their profession. That show has featured everything from sewer inspectors, to people who work at landfills, to people who build roads, to people who make cranberry jam (it’s messier than it sounds) – and everything in between. I know that most of those jobs are the last thing I’d want to wake up every morning to go do.
Sometimes God gives us a job to do that might be kind of similar to some of those jobs – the hard or dirty jobs that not many people are willing to tackle.
If God called us to serve in dirty places, or serve dirty people, where there isn’t much glamor or notoriety – would we serve humbly and joyfully there, if we even served at all? I think most of us would say that we would, myself included. But sometimes I wonder if I’d be able to serve in an uncomfortable, dirty job with joy and humility. I might be apt to complain a bit, or be disappointed that I wasn’t involved in something, well, less dirty.
Being a servant basically comes down to the greatest commandment – love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor. We’ve all heard this many, many times. It sounds so simple, but that whole loving your neighbor part – you know, loving even that impatient guy in the car behind you at the light who is laying on his horn, cursing aloud about you turning left (because he’s so passionate about it you can read his lips), or that kid at school who keeps talking smack about you, or that fellow member of the church committee we serve on that we have a major disagreement with – that can be difficult.
However, if our service to others is about serving God, and loving Him – and not about our need for some sort of notoriety, our need for people to think well of us, our need to be right, or our need to be comfortable – in other words, if we have the proper perspective – then loving our neighbor and serving our neighbor humbly and joyfully becomes easier.
Paul writes about love in Romans chapter 12, verses 9 through 14, and I believe that the principles he speaks of in this passage of scripture also apply when we are in service to others. It says:
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
Oswald Chambers wrote in the devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, “The power of the saint lies in the coming down and the living that is done in the valley. Paul said ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) and what he was referring to were mostly humiliating things.”
Brothers and sisters, Jesus didn’t promise us glamor or notoriety for being one of His servants. May we – may I – remember that even though I may be placed into serving others by doing one of those unwanted dirty jobs, that it is an honor and a privilege to do that job. May I humbly go where I am called to serve, and may I do so with joy and a loving heart. Amen.
