he gathered up all the shoes and took them back to his own room and delightfully polished each pair as if they belonged to the Lord Himself ! Moody told no one of his act of service , but a close friend interrupted him in the middle of his polishing of the shoes and joined him in delightful service as the Pastors slept .
Humility !
I am sure that as D . L . Moody shined each pair of shoes , the words of John ’ s Gospel rang in his heart ,
Pastors from Europe arrived for the annual event and were given rooms at the dormitory of the Bible College . As was their “ custom ,” the European men all placed their shoes outside their rooms expecting that they would be finely polished and cleaned by “ servants ” during the night for the following day .
As one could expect this was not Europe , but instead Massachusetts , and there were no servants assigned to American dormitories . Yet as the night hours passed and Moody walked through the halls of the school and prayed for his guests , he saw the shoes all lined up down the hall and realized what had happened . In that moment , Moody could have reacted thinking - “ Don ’ t they not realize this is America , and not Europe ,” but Moody was a man of Humility . So , without a word ,
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“ So , [ Yeshua ] rose from the table , removed His outer garments , and wrapped a towel around His waist . Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the talmidim and wipe them off with the towel wrapped around Him .” ( John 13:4-5 CJB )
Here we are reminded that acts of humility and joyful service is the natural posture for all believers in Yeshua - it is never about us ! It is important to note that Yeshua ’ s act of service in washing the disciples ' feet came only moments after Satan had entering the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Him ( vs . 2 ) and yet , Messiah was not deterred and held to His mission and in serving his friends around him . Like Yeshua , our acts of humility and lifestyle of service will often come ( as with D . L . Moody above ) with no acknowledgement , no fanfare and at times will even invoke the anger or rejection from those who choose to serve and love . Yet , for us , our response must always be like Yeshua , our humble , servant King in laying down our lives and serving with JOY anyway !