Here’s a reflective prayer from my book Heart to Heart. It reminds us that, as Christians, we should be willing not just to serve Christ, but, where necessary to go beyond the call of duty.
Read
Do not resist an evildoer, but if someone strikes you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek too. If anyone decides to sue you and take your coat, let them have your cloak as well, and whoever forces you to go one mile, go with them a second also. Matthew 5:39-41
Introduction
How much are you ready to do for others? How much are you prepared to offer to God? Many of us, if we’re honest, are guilty sometimes of giving as little as we can, preferring to look after number one before considering anyone else. The idea of going the extra mile – giving not only what’s expected of us but more besides – doesn’t come any easier to us than it did to the Jews of Jesus’ day, but that’s what’s involved in true Christian discipleship: gladly, freely and spontaneously doing that little bit extra – and doing so not simply because we must but, above all, because we may.
Pray
‘Do I have to?’ I thought.
‘Can’t they see I’m busy?’
Yes, I know it’s a good cause,
and of course I’d like to support it –
in an ideal world,
where time’s no object,
money no problem.
But it’s not like that, is it!
There’s the mortgage to pay,
food to put on the table,
children to get ready for school;
there’s the lawn to cut,
washing and ironing to see to,
jobs needing doing around the house –
these and so much else,
and I need two pairs of hands just to get those done,
let alone anything more.
Make time for others?
Give to the needy?
I’d love to, truly,
but there’s only so much anyone can do,
and it seems to me I’m doing it already.
Is that how I argue, Lord?
I hope not,
and I doubt I’d be quite so blunt,
quite so grudging,
yet, truth be told,
beneath the good intentions,
the pious veneer,
that’s the way my mind works sometimes –
more often than I care to admit.
Instead of how much I can do, it’s how little.
Instead of what I can offer, it’s what I can keep back.
Instead of giving extra, it’s cutting down
on the fraction I occasionally give.
Forgive me, Lord,
for I don’t just impoverish others
through such meanness of spirit,
but also myself.
Teach me to follow Christ,
who gave not just a proportion extra,
but everything.
May I learn from him that in letting go of self
I gain hold of life abundant;
that in giving I receive,
and that in responding to others
I respond above all to you.
In his name I ask it.
Amen.