Nobody ever illustrated and dignified servanthood better than Jesus. Fortunately there have been a few willing to follow His example. One of the best example of this is found in this story that I have used on many occasions.
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 because this was America, there were no hall servants.
Walking the halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and was determined not to embarrass his European brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but was met with only silence or excuses. So Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the 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.
D. L. Moody was a man with a servant’s heart, which was the basis of his true greatness. And while many might consider his act of service as that of someone who was “super spiritual”, all it took was humility to do what he did. In the same way, God calls us to humility each and every day—to live out the love and life of Christ to a watching world around us!
