Service Call

One morning at work, a staff member placed a pattern guide sheet before me, asking me to please explain how to sew a zipper on a dress. I had to ask why he wanted to know. He showed me the pattern, explaining that his daughter needed a dress, an antebellum dress. My next question was: “Have you ever sewn a dress?” He said he had never sewn anything. This single dad, doing his best to raise six children on a tight budget, moved my heart that day. I admired him for wanting to bless his daughter by tackling such a task. I offered to make the dress, having the sewing skills needed, and asked him when he needed it. “Tomorrow” was not the answer I expected.

”And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Matthew 25:40

What question would the King answer? The righteous wanted to know when they saw Jesus hungry and thirsty and fed Him or when they took Him in as a stranger. When did they see Him naked, clothe Him, or sick, or in prison, and visit Him? Jesus said helping and serving others is the same as doing it for Him. The ones NOT washed by the blood of Jesus asked the King the same questions. Jesus answered them, saying they rejected Him by disregarding others’ needs.

When Jesus sits on His throne of glory, all mankind will stand before Him. He will separate those cleansed by His blood from those who rejected Him—the “sheep” at his right hand from the “goats” on His left (v. 32). He will say to those at His right, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” But to those on His left, He says, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41).

God assigns unique personality traits, talents, and skills to every person born to help others and glorify Him. Along with these blessings, He gifts born-again believers for service and sets us apart to be His voice, eyes, ears, hands, and feet to carry out His work. We honor Him when we do, although some let what God graciously bestows lie unused. God calls us to serve, and we will all account to our Maker one day.

Jesus didn’t need a dress, but I “made one for Him” that day by fulfilling His two commandments in Matthew 22:37–39: Love God above all else and others as myself. God presented an occasion to minister to someone with a need, and I’m thankful I responded rightly. My family and I have been the recipients of others’ generosity, time, and love; the dressmaking was an opportunity for me to be a “blesser.”

After working through the night into the early morning hours, I finished the dress for my co-worker. His daughter wore her dress that day to school and called me later, saying the dress fit perfectly, thanking me for helping her dad. That was a blessing enough for me. But years later, one of the three daughters told me they each had a turn through their high school years wearing that dress for the school’s recognition day; she said they called the costume: Mrs. Gilda’s dress. What better love service could they have done for me? The dress blessed God, the dad, the girls, and me.