I met Henry at a boutique, of all places. We were waiting for our wives who were paging through clothes neither of us could afford.
We started talking and I soon discovered that he was a Christian.
“Henry, you call yourself a Christian, a servant of God. What is your job description in this regard?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I believe it is about being a good person in general and to tell the people about Jesus whenever I get the chance.”
“In that case,” I replied, “you are not a good servant, not bad but definitely not good.”
He looked at me in shock and disbelieve. “Why do you say that? How can you judge me? What are you doing that makes you a good servant?”
“Henry, it is very painful to admit, I am not a good servant either. Jesus told me this morning (Luke 12:37) that a good servant is one who watches all the time and be eager to receive Him back every second. I have failed.”
“Just before Jesus was crucified, He found His disciples asleep while He was praying. He asked Peter why he could not stay awake for one hour to pray. Then He told Peter to watch and pray.” (Matthew 26:41)
“I’ve realised this morning that I have been on watch duty for God but fast asleep too.”
“What were you supposed to have done then?” Henry asked.
“We know about the persecution of Christians all over the world. That is part of watching but then we should pray for those people too. We know about Ebola, watch and pray. Pray for the people effected by disasters all over the world.”
“We know about people without moral conscience robbing, beating and even murdering others and they are getting away Scot-free most of the time. Watch and pray.”
“You see Henry, behind every bad person or virus is the evil one. The devil will try every bad move on people or animals because he hates the One who created them.”
“We are not watching and praying as we should. We are so concerned about our personal prosperity, fame and fortune that our prayers are focused on ourselves all the time.”
“It is so awesome to know that if we are watching as we are supposed to, Jesus will gird Himself and let us sit down to eat while He serves us!” (Luke 12:37)
“I don’t expect Jesus to serve me!” Henry said.
“Me neither. However, by not serving Him the way we should and by asking for His blessings in our lives all the time, we are making Him our servant anyway.”