The Path of Humility, Part 1

Brother Lawrence, whose collected conversations and letters are entitled The Practice of the Presence of God, lived in the seventeenth century. He was born Nicholas Herman in French Lorraine, served as a soldier, and then was converted through seeing a tree in winter, stripped of its leaves, and reflecting on the fact that within a short time its leaves would be renewed through the love, providence, and power of God. His conversion led him to enter the monastery of the barefooted Carmelites at Paris in 1666. In the monastery Lawrence, as he was then called, was assigned to the kitchen where he had charge of utensils. At first he abhorred the work. But he set himself so to walk in God’s presence that he could worship God and serve others in the most humble circumstances.
The Path of Service, Part 5
We now come to the last way we are to serve other people as Jesus did.
 
6. We must restore one another. Speaking the truth in love, which includes the exposure of sin and the pronouncement of forgiveness for the one who repents of it and turns to Christ, has as its object the complete restoration of the other person. In aiding in this we perform what is perhaps our greatest form of service. Here we get closest to what Christ’s example of foot washing was all about.
The Path of Service, Part 4
Yesterday we looked at the need to help one another and to give to others in need. Today we consider what it is to bear another’s burden, and also see the importance of speaking God’s truth to others.
 
4. We must bear one another’s burdens. The Bible is able to express the whole work of Christ for us as bearing our burdens: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4, KJV). So it is not surprising that it can describe the whole of the Christian life as bearing the cross and admonish us to “carry each other’s burdens,” saying, “and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). 
The Path of Service, Part 3
Yesterday we looked at the first way to serve others.  Today we look at the next two.
 
2. We must help one another. The desperation people have in needing to talk to someone is not always merely their desire to be heard, although that is important in itself. It is also often the case that they need help, and so their speech is really a cry for assistance. We will find that if we stop to listen to people, their needs will come rushing to the surface and we will have infinitely more to do than wash their feet.
The Path of Service, Part 2
We must be practical at this point. Jesus served us by leaving heaven, taking on a true human nature, teaching, and then dying on the cross for our sin. We cannot do that. So we must ask, “How can we serve others? In what way must we demonstrate the servant nature of our master?” I suggest the following.