I recently read an article about Japan’s seeming obsession with clean toilets. No question when it comes to orderliness, cleanliness and hygiene, Japan ranks at the top. I remember reading that during the World Cup the Japanese soccer team left their locker room spotless after its games and how fans would clean the stadium after watching their team play, win or lose.

For many, cleanliness is next to godliness, but for the Japanese it is godliness. There are those in Japanese culture where it is believed that cleaning toilets can bring good luck or prosperity. In Shintoism and Buddhism cleanliness plays a very important role. Shintoism teaches that evil is associated with dirtiness, good with cleanliness.

In Japanese culture cleanliness and orderliness are taught at an early age in the home, and at school. And in the workplace, in many businesses, cleaning office spaces, emptying garbage cans and cleaning toilets is part of the job no matter what your role is. It is believed that cleaning toilets teaches gratitude and humble service, and a resolve to give ones all to their work even when no one is watching. It cultivates humility, awareness, and sensitivity.

Inamori Kazuo a successful Japanese corporation leader who initiated two fortune 500 companies was an excellent servant leader. One day the janitor was cleaning the bathrooms and noticed a middle-aged man cleaning and mopping one of the stalls. He thought the man was trying to take his job. They struck up a conversation and the man asked the janitor how he liked his work. He said he enjoyed his job but lately it was extremely hot and that the air conditioner in the breakroom was broken. A few days later the janitor and other employees realized the break room was very cool and the air conditioner had been replaced. It was then that the janitor recognized the photo on the wall of Kazuo and that he was the man he had seen cleaning the stall. Many stories are told of him cleaning toilets and mopping floors on a regular basis.

So, for the past month I’ve started cleaning our master bathroom toilet each morning right after I wake up. Maybe not for all the reasons that the Japanese do but certainly some of them. I don’t know that I will keep this up every day indefinitely, but for now I find it to be a good discipline. I’m using those first few minutes while cleaning the toilet to 1) ask the Lord to remind me of the filth in my own life that needs to be cleansed and use it as a time of confession. 2) by stooping down to clean the inside and outside of the toilet it serves as a reminder to in particular treat those who have what would be considered menial tasks and jobs with honor and dignity 3) As I stoop down and kneel to clean the bowl to live in humility remembering Philippians 2:3-8  where Jesus reminds us to do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. To esteem others better than ourselves. To look out for the interests of others. To not be concerned about building up my reputation. And to model humility.

Jesus said I did not come to be served but to serve. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

If you want to be great in the kingdom learn to be the servant of all.

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