All the Good You Can

Most people are much happier when they hear that they are going to be served than they are when they find out they are going to be serving others. I will admit there are also those people who would just as soon be left alone. Still, I wonder why there is so much negativity associated with the idea of serving.

After all, when you serve someone you are doing something for their benefit. In other words when you serve your goal is to make someone’s life better by doing something good for them. When Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley dreamed up Zaxby’s while they were shooting baskets in Statesboro, they also came up with this mission statement: Consistently create encore experiences that enrich lives one person at a time. They wanted to make sure that the people who worked in their restaurant understood that it was more than just about getting food in front of a customer. With each meal they served their mission was to enrich people’s lives.

John Wesley was concerned that people not only devote themselves to worship and devotion; but also to compassion and justice. For Wesley this was one way to fulfill the commandments to love God and to love your neighbor. John Wesley’s Rule has been traditionally attributed to him as one of the ways he endeavored to encourage the people called Methodists to serve God and their neighbor.

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.

That is a whole lot of good. Can you imagine how it would enrich the lives of your friends and family if you were to adopt Wesley’s Rule? Imagine how it would improve your relationships with your neighbors and the people who work with you. Consider the ways the whole climate of a community could be transformed if all those who call themselves Christians took this commitment to do good seriously.

Serving others in a spirit of Christ’s love is essential to living a life of Christian discipleship and it is one of the most effective correctives to the destructive influence of a growing culture of entitlement. That’s the truth!