One day, just to learn what it was like, I answered the phones as a customer service representative. My task was to solve complaints. I prayed the phone wouldn’t ring, and when it inevitably did, I grimaced and reluctantly tapped the connect button. I found it difficult to answer irate customers with gentleness, to smile into the phone and meekly say, “You could be right.”
That was a simple act of humility. Had someone suggested that I carry my own cross and to die so others might live, I certainly would have balked. I couldn’t go to my death in stoic silence. But Jesus did. He was boldly, yet humbly, obedient.
May we strive to follow his example of obedience; may we humble ourselves, take the form of a servant, and become obedient, whatever the cost.
This message was adapted from “Humble Obedience” written by Terri Lackey that first appeared in the April 2006 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine. If you are reading “Daily Grace” online, sign up to receive it by email daily.