Service of Common Courtesy

There is the service of common courtesy. Such deeds o f compassion have fallen on hard times in our day. But we must never despise the rituals of relationship that are in every culture. It is one of the few ways left in modern society to acknowledge the value of one another. We are “to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all men” (Titus 3:2).


Missionaries understand the value of courtesy. They would not dare to blunder into some village demanding to be heard without first going through the appropriate rituals of introduction and acquaintanceship. Yet we feel we can violate these rituals in our own culture and still be received and heard. And we wonder why no one will listen.

Richard Foster, A Celebration of Discipline, HarperCollins, 1998 p137