I was reading a post called “Confessions of a Housekeeper” on Yahoo! and was rather put off by the situation that this housekeeper presents. I wasn’t put off by the confessions of laziness and cutting corners. I wasn’t put off with how degrading the work can be (many jobs worked by those of us outside of the professional world have their dirty parts). I wasn’t even put off by the “no regrets” tone present. What I was most put off by are these points:

1. Housekeepers are rarely honored or treated with dignity at all.
2. Work itself has been degraded for a whole subset of the workforce.
3. Paltry tips are expected.
4. Religious pamphlets are more substantial than tips.

With point 1, the problem lies in the fact that housekeepers, like the rest of us, are human beings made in the Image of God. We are made to reflect God’s glory and no amount of sin can eradicate the image of God from anyone. In point 2, we’ve ruined the fact that God designed work for our good, that it was God’s design for how we interact with the wider creation that we’re asked to steward. Our whole culture says that this kind of work has no honor, no good, and just has to be done by people who have no other chances in life. So these are cultural and “big picture” problems that conflict with the wider Biblical image of creation. The next two points are problems of human relationship: monetary reward for work is precious little but conscientious folks have no problem leaving tracts and literature – the cost of which exceeds the tips they’re often willing to leave.

What’s a disciple of Jesus to do with these points? What is at stake in a situation that, given the perspective of how things are not as they should be? If we are Jesus’ people, and we’ve been given a new heart to live as part of a new creation, then part of how we are to live is conforming to God’s intent with creation. So human beings are to live like they are made in the image of God and to give due dignity to others, because they are made in the same image of God. So we have a responsibility to recognize that work is a good thing and we all have a calling to some kind of work and all work dealing well with creation is good work. These are big picture efforts. We shift our perspective and demonstrate respect for others and honoring good work in every walk of life, regardless of its economic position. These are missions. They are quests. They have a kind of excitement and transformation with them.

But what about tips and tracts? Do disciples really need to be worried about these? It’s just some change, right? Wrong. Disciples, better than any other people in the world, understand what it is to benefit from the incredible generosity from Another. Yet, when it comes to reflecting and continuing the stream of that generosity to others, particularly to those in positions of service, we are so stingy and reluctant. We want good reasons to give someone a decent tip. We pull out our cell phone’s calculator functions to do careful calculations to make sure we don’t give a server a dime over 17% or whatever standard we’ve decided is acceptable. That notion is so lacking in grace. We are people who have received much good that we have never deserved and yet we insist that we’ll only give a reward hard-earned. If you consider yourself a disciple of Christ, leave a good tip, every time. Encourage those who are serving you, whether they are wait staff or housekeeping or some other job. Even better, tell them that you love Jesus and care about them and ask if there’s anything they’d like you to pray about for them. They’ll respond and our faithfulness to being people who are truly disciples of Christ and truly living as people made in the image of God will mature.

Mark this statement well: this isn’t a “What’s the nice, Christian thing to do?” kind of problem. This is a Gospel problem. This is a Kingdom problem. As long as we are stingy and insisting on justice, we are forgetting what Jesus did for us on the cross. As long as we only give someone attention and service according to their due and going beyond the “call of duty”, we are neglecting what Jesus’ resurrection has done to change us. As long as we just let things remain unchanged, we are ignoring the voice of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Disciple of Jesus: read the Scriptures. Check out James 2. Check out Matthew 25:31-46. Check yourself. Hear the Spirit. Submit to the Word. Live out the Gospel.