The Floor Was Spotless

My son's favorite Bible verse is Colossians 2:22-23 which says, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. The reason, because it was the first verse he memorized.

It's kind of comical now, because every now and then when I catch him acting lazy or lethargic, I'll ask him what his favorite verse is. He typically grins sheepishly because he knows he's not honoring God. This is true of each of us at times, especially when we have to do something that we see as mundane or "beneath us."

Check out this story that I found on Stirred Up Leadership which illustrates the application of this verse very well. It's a letter from Joe Horness, Programming Director and Worship Leader at Bay Pointe Community Church who was preparing for the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. In preparation for the Global Leadership Summit internationally every year, they host various trainings all over the world to pour into their volunteer teams. Joe is one of those trainers who sacrificially gives of their time to travel to Congo, Uganda, and Nigeria to help set up for the Summit. Below is an excerpt from his travel updates sent during his recent trip through Africa:

Dear Friends!

Here is just a snapshot of a wonderful moment I hope I'll never forget. As I was doing the final teaching, two young girls, probably 11 or 12 years of age, came in the door near the back of the church. In their hands they carried buckets of water and 2 rags. They quietly began moving the benches from the back of the room, taking them outside so that they could clean the floor. When they came back in, they quietly dipped their rags into the buckets, bent at the waist and began mopping the floor to clean up the dirt and dust that had been tracked in over the past 2 days. An hour later they were still at it and they had only cleaned a third of the cracked, concrete floor. It was back-breaking work, but the floor was spotless!

When everyone had left I walked back to talk to them. I began by asking them if they had mops they could be using. They didn't understand what I meant. When I described using wooden handles to push the rags around so that they could stand up straight, they told me that they didn't have anything like that, and besides, they could get the floor much cleaner if they did it by hand. "But you're working so hard," I protested. One of the girls immediately lit up with a huge smile, her white teeth bright against her dark hair and skin. With great joy she corrected me; "But we're doing it for Jesus! It is not hard when we are doing it for Him!"

We are always so awe-struck and humbled when we see stories like these begin to flow in during GLS season every year.