by Helen Jesze 27th February 2026

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…” Eccl. 9:10 NKJV

I don’t know about you, but I always appreciate that the church where I belong puts a
great emphasis on serving in every area, one of them is keeping the place beautifully
clean. Not so long ago, there was a “Servants’ Heart” Sunday, where people could
sign up to join various existing teams and also new programs which had just been
introduced. We heard that over 60 new people had signed up and I can only say: Well
done!

During our ministry, George and I preached in many churches. Some were well-kept,
some put little or no priority on serving in a practical sense. I remember one church
we went to which was often dusty, sweet-wrappers were thrown on the floor, the
carpet was threadbare and needed cleaning, but the worst were the toilets! To go to
the ladies’ toilet, you had to go through the mens’ toilet, and it stunk terribly. It
seemed the urinals were never or hardly ever cleaned, certainly not disinfected! To
make it worse, everybody who came through the church-door had to pass the toilet
door, so you got a whiff, every time someone went in or out!

At a conference, a pastor said, he had many volunteers from people who wanted to
make the tea or coffee, but hardly ever a volunteer to clean the toilets! One large
church in Holland where we used to minister, was the first, or among the first to
televise their services in Europe. There the condition was, that anyone who wanted to
sing in the large choir had to clean the toilets or do not so nice jobs for one year! If
they were faithful there, they could sing in the choir! I’m sure that weeded out the
sheep from the goats!

Because George and I were in preaching ministry, somebody might think, well, she
can talk, this type of thing never concerned her! But this is not true. I did not start out
behind the pulpit. My father took over a pioneer church when I was 6 years old. My
first ‘job’ was handing out tracts to passers-by, during the open-air services. When I
was 11, I took over a Sunday-School class. The children came from non-Christian
homes, where the parents were willing for them to come, but they did not get them
ready. So when I was about 14, I walked or bussed to their homes, washed and
dressed the children and then brought them to Sunday School, taking them home
afterwards.

When I was 14, I started playing the piano for the services, and at 17, I started a
youth-club. I also had a team of young people and we went on Sunday mornings to
clean the hall, before the morning service. It was a rented hall and usually there was a
dance or a whist-drive the night before, so the floor needed a good clean. There were
also beer-bottles and drinks cans to be cleared away. Then we put all the chairs out,
hung the new midnight-blue velvet curtains someone had made over the tattered old
ones which were there and arranged the ‘pulpit’, which was two tables put together,
with a cloth which matched the curtains, and a small portable reading desk on top.
Then one of the ladies would prepare the weekly Holy Communion.

There was a well-known preacher who told how he started off in ministry. He went to
his pastor and told him that God had called him to preach. The pastor said, “That’s
marvellous! I will train you!” The young man thought this was great, but was not so
pleased when his pastor said, “Your first job is to clean the church toilets for one
year!” Nevertheless, he thought, I will do the best job I can for Jesus! The toilets had
never looked so clean, they positively sparkled, and everyone was pleased. Then,
seeing a business opportunity, he bought a lorry and cleaning materials, and he and a
team from the church used to go to factories and offices to clean their toilets!
The next year, he was assigned to be a greeter at the church door. Then he was asked
to help a visiting evangelist. This involved arranging itineraries, carrying cases,
buying tickets, putting up book-tables, helping in the meetings, learning to speak with
pastors and church leaders. This was all excellent training as later, he himself,
became a travelling evangelist and was mightily used by God. His earlier
involvement also helped to open doors for his own ministry. His pastor had been a
wise man, and had given him good training!

One day a vicar in the UK saw a man mowing the grass round his church. “Thank
you very much, Sir,” the vicar said, “but why are you doing this?” “Well, I have often
seen the people coming to your church, but none of them seemed to notice the long
grass. It looked disgraceful!” How ashamed the congregation were, when they heard
that a man who was not a Christian and never came to church, without being asked,
had come to take care of God’s property, something they should be doing.
So what has all this got to do with us today, my dear devotionalsjust4u!! friends? Just
this: I would like to encourage us or perhaps challenge us all, in the light of these
Bible verses:

Are we serving the Lord with gladness or are we serving Him grudgingly?
Whatever our hand finds to do, are we doing it with all our might and with
excellence, or in a slipshod, careless fashion?
Do we have the same mindset as our Lord Jesus who came to serve and not to be
served? Or do we think of something as our entitlement, expecting always to be
waited on ourselves, rather than to serve others?
Today God is looking for volunteers who will serve with a ‘Servant’s Heart’ in
His worldwide Church, and in His eternal Harvest-Field. Jesus said the harvest
is great but the labourers are few. Let’s examine our hearts and serve Him
gladly today!

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your
marvellous love and kindness to us all. Shine the searchlight of your
Holy Spirit upon us today and show us where we need to change or
deepen our relationship with you or change our attitude. Show us the
need around us as You see it. Perhaps there are things which You have
assigned us to do, and nobody else. Help us in Your strength and
power to fulfil this mandate on our lives and use us for your glory.
In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen!