Attitude Adjustments

It’s always been a vexed question, this spiritual discipline of service. How, when, to whom? How much? Is a hand-out necessarily a good thing? What is “charity,” and is it inconsistent with self-respect to be on the receiving end of it? More trouble is caused by confused attitudes than perhaps any other facet of serving.

It began the second humans chose “what I want” over serving the Creator. Eve was already “like God.” What Satan hinted that she ought to want was to be the master, being served, rather than the servant, which just shows how skewed his ideas of service already were. Who served Adam and Eve, and for that matter, all the creatures on the planet? God did, willingly and lovingly. Who gave the man and woman to lovingly outdo each other in serving? Who, under God, was to serve and care for all of creation? Whom did the animals love and serve? It was a perfect circle, meant to be eternal.

God warned Eve right away that one of the results of her choices would be that her husband would now “rule over her.” Gen. 3:16. I wonder how quickly women came to be seen as the vassals and chattel they were for millennia and sometimes still are? Remember that word “servile”? God wept as He saw his beautiful daughters reduced to slavery, and His beloved sons reduced to slave-owners. Is this what it means to serve? Over the centuries, this attitude spread. My tribe conquered your tribe. You have to serve us now; do anything I say. My country wants what your country has. We’re taking over your land and you have to either move away or stay to be our maids and gardeners. Worst of all is the horrifying attitude; my race or gender is better than yours, by nature. You were created by God to serve me.

When it comes to poverty, people used to believe that people who were poor (or sick, or disabled, or otherwise needy) had been stricken by God, and really deserved the privation they suffered. Enlightened people today don’t believe these things anymore, and Christians in particular choose to believe that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28) But we often don’t realize how holdovers from these attitudes still color our own.

“They could do better, they’re just lazy.”

“We do not accept charity!”

“Worthy poor.”

“I don’t deserve it.”

“Welfare queens.”

“My brother has plenty, but do you think he shares? He doesn’t care!”

“They have this sense of entitlement!”

In each of the Bible stories we have looked at so far, the attitude has clearly been “it could happen to anyone; it could have been me.” If we always keep in mind our own neediness and pray for humility, we will be protected from either reaching down from an imaginary pedestal to offer patronizing “service,” or feeling ashamed to ask for help ourselves. Keeping in mind God’s methods will help enormously with all these attitudes.