SELECTIONS FROM LUKE 23

Jesus breathed His last.... All the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, went home, striking their chests. But all who knew Him, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. There was a good and righteous man named Joseph, a member of the Sanhedrin, who had not agreed with their plan and action. He was from Arimathea, a Judean town, and was looking forward to the kingdom of God. He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Taking it down, he wrapped it in fine linen and placed it in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever been placed.

No one would have wanted Jesus' body to be tossed into a common grave with thieves and criminals. He'd been humiliated enough already. But everything had been so frightening, so sudden, so unbelievable. Nobody stopped to think about it. Well, almost nobody.

There are so many little things we can do to show Christ's love to others - things so little, in fact, that we look right over their heads. But all it takes is a little thoughtfulness and a prayer for God's direction, and he can turn our smallest expressions into life-sized acts of ministry. It'll cost us some time we used to spend concentrating on our own busy schedules, our own problems, and our own concerns. But every minute we invest in trying to dream up new ways to serve God by serving others is time well spent.

Slave is not a word most of us nowadays feel comfortable with. It is significant that most modern Bible translations use servant instead. For a slave is not his own, has no rights whatsoever, makes no choices about what he will do or how he is to serve. Once we give up our slavery to the world, which is a cruel master indeed, to become Christ's bondslave, we live out our servitude to him by glad service to others. This volunteer slavery cannot be taken advantage of - we have chosen to surrender everything for love. It is a wholly different thing from forced labor. It is, in fact, the purest joy when it is most unobserved, most un-self-conscious, most simple, most freely offered.

Lord, free me to be your happy slave - to be the foot-washer of anyone today who needs his feet washed, his supper cooked, his faults overlooked, his work commended, his failure forgiven, his griefs consoled, or his button sewed on. Let me not imagine that my love for you is very great if I am unwilling to do for a human being something very small. - Elisabeth Elliot

Make a point to save ten minutes this week just to think about some ways you can serve your family, your church, your friends in need.  Do it practically anytime.