11/28/2023
Are you one of those people that will give someone the shirt off their back, but you won’t accept a gift yourself? Does it make you uncomfortable when someone does something for you; so much so that you have to repay them in some manner before you can rest? Then grace is probably your worst nightmare!
“and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
Romans 3:24 ESV
I once attended a church that had a voluntary foot washing service each Easter at the conclusion of the Maundy Thursday service. I had never participated in this, but did so in 2018. The truth is that I would gladly wash anyone’s feet at any time, old, young, pristine or gnarly... it makes no difference, but letting another person wash my old feet has always struck me as embarrassing, and humiliating... Until now that is. I have come to understand that humbling ourselves in spiritual obedience before one another is like humbling ourselves before God Himself. Would it make you uncomfortable if someone you held in great esteem suddenly wanted to wash your feet? The disciples were taught this lesson by Jesus, but it took me much longer to learn it... my preference has always been to serve, but I never really liked it when others served me. Allowing someone to serve you is a powerful blessing for them, and as I learned in 2018… it is for you too.
“Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!"”
John 13:8-9 ESV
Do we have a share with Jesus? Do we allow others to humble themselves before us in servitude without our feeling uneasy? When you pray for someone and they thank you are you fine with that, but feel uneasy when someone comes up and says “I feel the need to pray for you this morning; can I do that now?”, or how would you feel if one of the least fortunate in your church walked over and handed you a hundred dollar bill... would you feel guilty if you took it? We should allow others the blessing of serving us, and be blessed ourselves by their obedience to the Spirit. Let it move you... even to tears.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”
John 13:16-17 ESV
Jesus was teaching us about the true blessing of serving in this scripture. He wasn’t just saying that we are blessed by humbling ourselves in service to another, He is saying that we are blessed also by allowing others to humble themselves before us. For a humble person to allow such a thing, and to accept this gift from someone they feel less than takes an act of true obedience... obedience to Jesus Himself. Do we obey Him? Do we comfortably allow those who we feel that we are less than to serve us? Do we have a true share with Jesus?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for teaching me that none of us is greater than the other in your eyes. I thank you for the lessons of Jesus regarding the way I perceive myself, and others. One day Father, I want to wash the feet of the likes of Jesus, Abraham, Elijah, David, and many others, but I know Lord that before I can do so they will welcome me on their knees with a towel wrapped about them. Dry my tears Holy Father, even as they begin to dry my feet. Let me become their blessing, just as they have blessed me all these years. I praise you on my knees, I praise you prostrate, and I praise you with the tears from my heart, but also let me praise you with my feet as you wash them clean of my iniquities. Let the relief of my sins be your greatest blessing just as it is mine. Let us share in that moment together Holy Father... let me, the undeserving, share in your unbounded grace.
Rich Forbes