Random Acts of Kindness

Through trying to do the talk for Sunday evening on serving God I am reminded of a story by Mike Pilavachi.

This story talks about acts of kindness. An activity that is called different things in different places. It is also done by lots of different people, not just Christians. It involves doing simple things for people, picking up litter, giving someone your seat on a bus, little acts that show kindness.

So, Mike talked at one event. His talk involved people who, at toll booths, pay for themselves and also ask to pay for the person behind them in the queue. They don't then stop and tell the person what they did, they just drive off, knowing they have done something good for someone.

The story Mike told is of trying to do something himself. He has two different instances. One where he has his youth group in the bus and he pays. The person is very thankful, he allows them time to catch up and they give him the thumbs up and just make him feel good about himself.

The second time he does the same thing. Again, he pays and then slows the van down so the person can catch up and show appreciation. On this occassion, however, nothing happens. They do not express their thanks but instead drive off down the road.

It reminds me that serving God isn't about trying to get the thanks. Only serving because we know that someone will be grateful, someone will think we are fantastic people. Many people, those in churches and out of them serve God daily, not because they know they are going to get thanks but because they love God and that is how they can express it.

So, as youth workers, children's leaders, those who serve God in churches and those who serve him in numerous other places I encourage us all to remember that the love God surrounds us with is the reason we are doing it. We may never know the results of our service but we do know God loves us and that will never change.