11/28/2025
Are we one of those people that will give someone the shirt off their back, but that won’t accept a gift themselves? Does it make us uncomfortable when someone does something for us; so much so that we must repay them in some manner before we can rest? If so then the grace of God that flows through Jesus Christ is probably our worst nightmare!
“and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
Romans 3:24 ESV
Several years ago, I was attending 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 was planning to do so for the first time in the year 2018. The truth was that I would gladly wash anyone’s feet at any time, old, young, pristine or gnarly... it made no difference, but letting another person wash my hairy old feet always struck me as embarrassing, and humiliating... Until 2018 that is. That year I had come to understand that humbling ourselves in spiritual obedience before one another is like humbling ourselves before God Himself. How do you view this? Would it make you uncomfortable if someone you held in high regard or great esteem suddenly wanted to wash your feet? The disciples were taught this lesson in a single night by Jesus, but it took me much longer to learn what this meant... my preference had always been to serve, but never to allow others to serve me. Allowing someone to serve us is a powerful blessing for them... and can be for us too if we will allow it to be so.
“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 God by serving us without it making us feel uneasy? When we pray for someone and they thank us are we 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 it make us feel if one of the least fortunate in our church walked over and handed us a hundred dollar bill... would we feel guilty for taking it? We should never deny others the blessing of serving us, and be blessed ourselves at their obedience to the Spirit. Let it move you, even to tears, for this is the will of God being served for you both.
“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 was saying that we are blessed also by allowing others to humble themselves before us in obedience to the Lord’s will. For a good and humble person to allow such a thing, and then to accept a sacrificial gift from someone they feel is less than themselves, takes an act of holy obedience... obedience to Jesus and to the will of God Himself. Do we obey in this way? Do we comfortably allow others less fortunate than ourselves to sacrificially serve us in this way? Do we have a share with Jesus?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the understanding that none of us is greater than the other in your eyes. I thank you for the teaching 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 and wash mine. Dry my tears Holy Father, even as they begin to dry my feet. Let me become their blessing, just as they will be blessed by me. I praise you on my knees, I praise you prostrate, and I praise you with the tears of 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 man, share in your unbounded grace with a basin of water, and a towel. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who in omnipotent and omnipresent and yet who desires to wash my filthy feet, and my whole body, mind and soul too with the blood of your Son Jesus. Holy are you who is humble beyond all understanding and whose will it is that we humble ourselves before you and the cross of Calvary by accepting the suffering, life, and death, of your Son Jesus with open arms. Bless me Father and allow me to be a blessing unto you.
“When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 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_12-17 ESV
Amen, Amen, Amen!
Rich Forbes