Service

Begin with Chapter 9. In Foster's framing, service shows up in ordinary ways: listening attentively, sharing someone's sorrow, protecting another person's reputation, being plainly kind. It forms humility without a show, and without us trying to manufacture humility directly. (This guide draws on Foster's separately attributed essay on service, so treat its examples as pointers for your own reading, not as the chapter's exact wording.)

Now sit with the scene in John 13. Jesus has just washed his disciples' feet. In that world, foot washing was the job of the lowest servant in the house. Dusty roads, sandals, no one to clean up. The passage shows Jesus doing the washing; it does not tell us whether anyone else offered. Then the one they call Teacher and Lord kneels and does it.

In verse 12 he asks, 'Do you understand what I have done for you?' It's a fair question, because it would have been easy to be moved by the moment and miss the point. He explains: if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet. He calls it an example, not a one-time act of kindness. Notice that this isn't a general idea about serving in some big way someday. It's concrete: a towel, a basin, a person's tired feet.

And verse 17 has an interesting twist: 'If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.' Knowing isn't the finish line. Many of us can talk about servanthood for hours. Jesus says the blessing is in the doing.

There's a trap, though. Service can quietly turn into a way to be seen as humble. Foster's emphasis on service without spectacle protects us from that. If I only serve when someone notices, I may be after attention, not the other person's good. A small act with no recognition tests the motive in a way a public one can't.

Think about the question this companion asks: what small act would help another person without requiring recognition? It may not be dramatic. It could be hearing out someone who needs to talk instead of waiting for your turn. It could be refusing to join in gossip, which protects someone's name. It could be quietly doing the chore no one wants. Foot washing was ordinary and unglamorous, and Jesus made it holy.

One more thing: serving doesn't mean ignoring your own limits or being used by anyone who asks. Jesus served out of knowing who he was and where he was going (verse 3 says so). Service flows best from that kind of security. Start small, and keep it unseen.