Serving

What the World Needs Now Is Love Sweet Love!

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 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  John 13:34 ESV

Some years ago I worked trimming trees on a large estate in Katonah, New York. Since the work we did was usually done in the winter, it was a special blessing that tucked into one of the wings of the house was a green house with a small semi-heated area where we could warm ourselves at lunch. Though we rarely saw the owner or even the caretaker we were able to get in because the spare key was kept under the edge of the fountain. That key opened a little door marked, “Service entrance”.

That entrance always reminded me that God also leaves the key to His door under the fountain. At that fountain we find, not a to His service entrance door.

When Jesus gave us His new commandment He required that we love one another in the same way that He had loved us. Then, “How did Jesus love me?” we should ask. Was it not most love of all loves when He gave His life on the cross for our sins? What a mighty Savior who gave Himself humbly for us. If today we will pause at His fountain we will discover there in a hidden place the key to the service entrance to heaven. That key He gives us with His command to love God’s children from every corner of the earth!

Foot Washing Lessons

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Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:5 ESV

If you search for leadership training programs you can find 389 millions results in under a second; but not so many on learning to be a servant. But looking at the teachings of Jesus; we see Him stressing the exact opposite.  Most stunning among His lessons was the night Jesus became the foot washer for His disciples. On the evening that Jesus instituted what we celebrate as communion, He concluded the supper with a simple act of service and left us an example to follow.

close up photography of hands and feet

Photo by Min An on Pexels.com

First Jesus did some planning. His foot washing wasn’t just some spur of the moment action. Jesus had everything prepared ahead of time so that when the moment came He was ready. For us to be a good servant we need to invest time and effort and do so with excellence. Secondly, Jesus shows us is that He served unexpectedly. When He stepped out to get the basin and the towel and then reentered the room His disciples were shocked. Most of us treat service as if it were just an option that we might consider until our pastor or some other church leader asks us repeatedly to help out. Last; Jesus chose the lowest job of all to express His love. As He began to wash and dry their dirty feet he was showing us that there was nothing He would not do to wash us and prepare us to follow Him. Then God asks us three questions. How can we get ready to serve: What unexpected blessing could we give: And what job is needed that no one else wants to do?

Wearing a Towel

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Lately I realized that I only have a single pair of Jeans without a spot of paint. “You know that’s your own fault.” my wife told me.

Because I forget about changing clothes when I am in a hurry to start the next project, my jeans have made me a marked man. Everyone knows what I’ve been doing by the way I am dressed.

In that same way all the disciples immediately knew what Jesus was going to do as soon as they saw the towel. He was no longer identified by the teacher’s robe, now he was dressed for a servant’s job. It would be like seeing our pastor showing up in overalls riding in the back of the sanitation truck ready to pick up your garbage. “What could Jesus be thinking?” they asked each other. But in fact Jesus was for the first time revealing to them His true identity. He had not come to be a king (not yet).

The shock of seeing their master wearing a servant’s towel would only be surpassed when they saw Him on the cross. There as He hung from its splintered beams, without even a towel, He washed us all and as the servant of all took away our sins. What a humble Savior we serve!