The Butler Servant

It has been a few days since I last made some comments relative to things running through my mind and during this time, I read "Pagan Christianity." I wrote a review of the book on Amazon and still think it is a bit depressing because it reminded me how far from the will of God we have come in the organization of our churches. It is easy to have a sense of hopelessness and yet the position of hopelessness is so far away from where God would have us enjoy our lives. I continue to see so many of my brothers and sisters focus their comments on the commands of God we must all follow if we are to be found faithful to God and it is this statement I have decided to address this morning. If we choose to insist on following the commands of God for His approval and so we can be found "faithful," we have lost and stand condemned at this very moment. I would rather sit on the knowledge of there now being no condemnation for those in Christ.

I am not sure how old I was when I watched a show on the television describing what it took to be an "English Butler," but I do know it has remained in my mind and came up recently when discussing our obedience to God. It seems the butler must train himself to anticipate the needs of his employer and they were not hired to follow directions but be of service before the directions were given. It was the butlers job to have the bath drawn to the correct temperature at the right moment for his employer to take a bath. The newspaper would be ironed and placed for reading along side the cup of "hot" coffee just prior to time for breakfast. The car would be at the door before it was time to leave. Every skill needed to be the perfect butler was defined by the ability to anticipate and do what was needed without being asked. In service as a butler, the greatest failure was being asked to do something!

We are told more than once in the bible to encourage each other toward good deeds and yet our focus is often on deciphering rules and regulations to be obeyed. Considering this and making application of the two commands I believe represent the totality of the commands we are "asked" to follow if we love God, I believe taking a lesson from the butler would be worth considering.

Showing our love to God and our love to our neighbor, we can be about looking to do good things to those around us. Rather than focus our lives on obedience to a list of rules which we can't find in the first place, I believe it would be great for us to anticipate the needs of others and be present in the lives of our Christian family and those of our community before they ask! We have a habit of "asking" what we can do to help and yet we can simply offer ourselves in such a way as to actually be Christ to others.

I can remember some of the most joyous moments coming when someone did something I wanted done without me asking. I am sure we have even seen times in our families when we said something similar to "why should I have to ask for you to do something."

If this brings great joy to me as a fallible human, I can only imagine how please He will be with us when we demonstrate the evidence of our faith in being obedient in the things He has not specifically asked from us.

God had a plan for our salvation from the beginning because His goodness anticipated the need prior to our failure. If we are going to be like God, we need to practice obedience based on the anticipation of a need and not the directness of a command.