A Hero to his Valet

There is an old saying, attributed to various people, that “no man is a hero to his valet.” Well, one man was a hero to his personal servant.

Edmund Morris, in his fabulous book, COLONEL ROOSEVELT, writes about Roosevelt taking a speaking tour in England after he was president. At the end of the trip, Roosevelt said goodbye to his friend, Arthur Lee, and to the valet, who had taken care of his needs during his trip.

After he boarded the ship, that would take him home to the United States, Lee was surprised to see Roosevelt’s servant crying. He asked him what was wrong.

The valet replied, “Excuse me sir, but in all my 30 years of service, I have never met such a great gentleman as ’im.”

Humility from the great is always appreciated.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what (Phil. 2:5-6). THE MESSAGE

Why Are You There?

In Edmund Morris’ excellent work, COLONEL ROOSEVELT, he made an interesting point.* During the Victorian Age, many in Europe and even in the United States, held up David Livingstone as an excellent example of a foreign missionary. (Livingstone was a medical missionary sent to Africa by the London Missionary Society.)

Morris, as an aside in his book, notes this about Livingstone, “The Victorian era’s saintly missionary converted only one African, who subsequently reverted to paganism.”

I have not documented Morris’ assessment, but that is beside the point. Morris speaks for secular society. The assumption behind Morris’ quote is that the foremost objective for missionaries is convert people and make them disciples of Jesus. They may not like us for it, but they respect us for it.

Good works are good, but they are subservient to the greater goal of reuniting people with God. Sometimes, Christians forget this. This scores us few points with our friends outside of Christianity. As Morris demonstrates, our friends are holding us to a higher standard, whether we are or not.

*Page 665, footnote “284 Like David Livingstone”