A Servant's Heart

     Let me tell you the story of a man who lived before cell phones, and before cars. Who didn't see his friends every day, and who knew hardship.

He came to know Jesus while he was traveling, on his way to do something that he would have later regretted. No one could believe that he was actually a Christian and he faced disbelief from the rest of the Church. As soon as he could, this man began preaching the word of God to anyone who would listen. He journeyed to various cities, and was forced to leave one due to persecution when his life was at risk. When a neighboring city was facing famine, he and a friend hastened to minister there. Ten years after his conversion, he took his first mission trip, and in the following ten years he took two more. During one of them he was put in jail in Europe, but after singing hymns, he and his fellow missionary were able to leave due to a natural phenomenon. His third trip lasted more than 3 years and involved detours because of plots to take his life. Finally, on one of his returns home, he was arrested for preaching Christ. For two years he preached from jail where he wrote the majority of his letters, and then is moved to a different city and is put under house arrest there as he awaits trial. After 5 years of captivity, this man is released and continues his ministry, preaching, planting churches, and writing letters. Two years later he is taken by the government and is martyred. Throughout his journeys, he had preached even when things looked pretty rough, he even told his friends while he was in jail not to worry for him but to focus on their ministry for the Lord. 13 of his letters were published and are now read by Christians all over the world. He ran his race completely. He didn't complain about serving the Lord. And he showed what dedication is.

This is a brief look at the life of Paul the apostle. And I don't think we consider the magnitude of his work often enough. He persecuted the church, and yet God saved him. When faced with death, he stood fast. While he was in jail, he wrote Scripture. That is truly amazing. That is what it looks like to be a servant of the Lord.

I have another story for you, one that has the same theme but with a different outcome.

"Cinderella! Cinderella" These words are the bane of  servant girl, Cinderella. We are all pretty familiar with the story line of this classic tale that goes something like this: Once upon a time there was a girl who lived with her evil stepmother and two step-sisters. The stepmother didn’t like her and made her do household work. Her step-sisters never had to work and made fun of Cinderella. One day, a letter from the king came inviting them to a ball....Cinderella wanted to go. Her stepmother told her that she can if she completes all her work on time and also helps her step sisters with their dresses for the ball. Cinderella worked as fast as she could to get everything done but there was always something left. At last, she was left at home disappointed. As she is sobbing her heart out, a fairy godmother appears, waves her wand, and bam, she has a dress and a carriage. But she is told that they will go away at midnight so she rushes to the ball. When the clock strikes midnight, Cinderella runs home leaving a shoe behind which the prince (who she danced with) uses to locate her and take her to the castle. They get married and live happily ever after. 

That was just a very brief summary of what happens. (spoiler alert to those that have not seen Cinderella.)

And we love to put our focus on that last part: them living happily ever after. But the real message comes from the long hard years before the ball. The story of a young, persecuted, overworked girl living in poverty in her own home. She doesn't become bitter, she doesn't retaliate, she doesn't refuse to work. My favorite version of the story is from the live action movie. Because in it, Cinderella lives by two rules: have COURAGE, and be KIND. I know it is a fictional movie, but think about how brave she had to be. Imagine how much courage that takes, to be a servant in your own home. To be ridiculed and never return it with anger. To be so kind you never show hate. It isn't often we can look into the real world and see someone with a true servant's heart. But we can look at the story of Cinderella to remind us what it looks like to serve. To be kind. And to have courage. 

So let's compare these two stories. The way that the story of Paul differs from that of Cinderella, is that Paul was real. He was persecuted and still had courage. He had a servant's heart. But we don't like to look at his story too much, because his doesn't end with the words, "happily ever after". Instead, he died a servant of the Lord. And that scares us. We don't want to face that. We would much rather look at Cinderella. Her fairy godmother appeared to help her out of a difficult situation, and her story ended happily.

So you're probably wondering, why am I trying to compare these people? What is the conclusion I want to reach? Well, in both cases, we are shown a true servant's heart. One is rewarded before the end of the story, and one is not. One has a fairy that fixes the situation, and one has to work from jail. But both have a reward before them. They both were put through extreme trials. Both were kind. Both had courage. 

Cinderella and Paul showed us what it is like to serve others in love. It isn't just a concept that exists in a fairy tale. You can have courage and be kind. You can have a servant's heart. These two people did. It doesn't matter if the story ends with "happily ever after". We are given hope of a reward far greater than Cinderella's fairy godmother could ever provide. So show some love, and make this fairy tale of having courage and being kind in our world, a reality.