Are You Being Served?

You can guess which store I will be visiting again!

Acts 23:23-35

Reference: This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. (Acts 23:27 NIV)

Explore: I was recently in a large department store needing some assistance. While there were quite a few customers around, there seemed to be no retail assistants.

After looking around the department I was in, I started looking further afield to the other department areas. It seemed this store was currently so under staffed that there were even numerous cash registers unattended.

When I finally found someone to assist me, they were already helping  three other customers with enquiries, and so, I gave up and went to another store.

At this store, I was greeted me at the door and when I asked the welcomer where I could find my desired product, they actually asked a passing assistant to escort me there. Once there, I discovered I still had some questions to ask but found another assistant within a couple of minutes. This retail assistant didn’t know all the answers to my questions, but searched out their manager until I had all the information I needed.

To be honest, the products in this store were not as well fitting to my desire as they were in the initial store visited, however, due to their outstanding customer service I was willing to purchase the item, as well as commend the manager on her staff.

In both stores I had presented in the same way – a customer willing to purchase an item. However, the latter store had gone out of their way to assist me while the former had provided me with little assistance. You can guess which store I will be visiting again!

Application: We all have jobs to do, but we can approach them with different attitudes. Do we look to do the bare minimum or are we willing to go the extra mile?

The commander in Acts 23 certainly went out of his way to assist Paul. The Jews were about to condemn and kill Paul but the Roman commander stepped in.

To me, it seems like he went above and beyond to assist Paul so that he would receive a fair trial. It may have been his duty but he carried it out with horses, soldiers and a letter of persuasion.

I know there are times when I look to a task and try to find ways of fulfilling it by just doing the bare minimum. However, when I look to those who displayed the character of God, in the Bible and in my life today, I see that they don’t skimp, not even on the small things.

It shows an incredible amount of integrity to be diligent in the small things as well as the significant ones.

Prayer: Lord, You never skimp on us. You have always gone above and beyond and for that we are ever grateful. Amen.

What are your tasks today? Are you willing to go the extra mile?

Acts, character, diligent, integrity, Job, Paul, work