Go the Extra Mile

How is your customer service?  Do you give your customers more value than the money they pay?  Do you under promise and over deliver?  

“And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” – Matthew 5:41

Customer service is something entrepreneurs do as a good business practice to increase their bottom line.  As a result, when customer service becomes a burden, profit-driven entrepreneurs do away with it and only focus on providing a minimum level of service for the highest price possible.  When this is our attitude, customer service becomes something we do out of a sense of obligation instead of voluntarily.

During the days that Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem the Jews were under Roman domination and were considered to be of a lower class than the Romans; thus, the law required that if a Jew encountered a Roman soldier walking and carrying a load, the soldier could mandate the Jew to carry his load for up to one mile.  This law is demonstrated in Matthew 27:32 when the soldiers compel Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross as He was taken to be crucified.

Here you have a law that was not only unjust but also designed to keep God’s chosen people in bondage.  Therefore, Jesus, who came to preach the Good News to the poor and set the captives free, had to provide His followers with a theological strategy to fight this unjust law.  Instead of instructing them to refuse to follow the soldiers’ instructions or to take up arms and fight the soldiers, Jesus simply told His disciples to go the extra mile.  What did He mean by that?  What Jesus meant was that when compelled by the soldiers to go one mile, go beyond the one mile to two.  When you only follow the soldiers’ instructions you are at the mercy of the soldiers and the Roman law and therefore acting as their slave.  But when you go the extra mile you are breaking the bond of servitude. Going the extra mile takes you from the laws of men to the laws of God.  It breaks the chains of bondage and causes you to no longer be a slave but a voluntary servant, like Jesus.

The question now is what is the marketplace application?  When customers come to you and pay their money, they demand a service.  Don’t just give them what they pay for, go the extra mile.  Go beyond their expectation; under promise and over deliver.  Give them more value than what they pay for and follow up with them beyond the transaction to ensure their complete satisfaction.  In doing so you are demonstrating that you do not just care about their money but you care about them as people.  When you give customers only what they pay for, you are serving money since they paid for it.  However, when you give them more than what their money can buy, you are serving your God through your customers since no one can serve two masters.  Though going the extra mile has its price, the benefits far outweigh the cost.  The benefits include; the opportunity to be the light and salt in the marketplace, customer loyalty, serving your customer instead of his money, and improving your bottom line in the long run.  So the next time a customer pays you for a product or service, find a way to give him more value than what he paid for, you will be glad you did.  My prayer for you this week is that God will grant you the grace to go the extra mile in serving the customers He blessed you with for His glory.