First in Line

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said,
"If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, a
nd the servant of all.”
(Mark 9:35 NIV)

A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.

Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world’s only famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret.

When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never know by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant’s heart and that was the basis of his true greatness.[i]

A good many are kept out of the service of Christ, deprived of the luxury of working for God, because they are trying to do some great thing. Let us be willing to do little things. And let us remember that nothing is small in which God is the source.[ii]


Can You Remember....?

When was the last time you went under-cover and served the needs of another without them knowing?



Think of those who live in your neighborhood, those in the workplace, those out in community, in your church. Take a few moments and jot down some thoughts: What are some practical ways to serve various people in each of these settings. Take some time and think of the obvious and practical, as well as ways to serve that may be more unique and outside-the-box.

“Today it is very fashionable to talk about the poor.
Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them.”[iii]
(Mother Teresa)

[i] Inrig, A Call to Excellence, (Victor Books, a division of SP Publ., Wheaton, Ill; 1985), 98.
[ii] D. L. Moody, quoted in The Berean Call, Bend, Oregon, March, 1997.
[iii] Mother Teresa, In My Own Words, 23.