Editorial February 26, 1996 Issue

Better service—what's at the heart of it?

Russ Gerber

It's no secret to business owners and managers just how crucial to success good customer and client service is. Many people who have fairly regular contact with the public are making better service a high priority. They are looking for ways to meet people's needs more directly, more efficiently, and in a more friendly manner.

Managing a store, seating people in a restaurant, washing cars, even writing a letter to someone is an opportunity to serve others. One day I was preparing to write to someone and was wondering what I should say that would be helpful, and how best to say it. After a few starts and stops to the writing, I turned to God and prayed for direction. The answer came to me as this thought: you are My servant. Because I knew that man's Maker is God, and therefore that my true selfhood must be the image, or reflection, of God, such a message made perfect sense. But it was not clear to me how this concept related to the writing task at hand. And so I continued to think about my relation to God and about what it means to serve Him.

How does such service relate specifically to day-to-day matters? Can someone serve God effectively and still be, say, a fulltime parent or an automobile mechanic? The Bible sheds plenty of light on this subject by providing a useful look at people from all walks of life—parents, rulers, farmers, tax collectors—who were helped, even healed, by being faithful to God and doing His will.

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Better service—what's at the heart of it?

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