Washing Feet

Love in Action

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‭‭But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:4-5a ESV

Notice that the first love that Jesus calls us to is not about how we feel. He is calling us to repent and then do something! Though our feelings often reflect our inner motives, even those motives are only useful, if they lead to our actions. When our focus is on how we feel about Jesus, then we end up in a fairly useless state of feeling guilty and ashamed. But the good news is that He gives us opportunities to serve him every day. He isn’t asking us to feel anything. He is calling us to go find someone with dirty feet, and show them the love of Jesus by washing them. Then those pesky feelings just might follow! So, as we enter this New Year, let’s determine to start showing the love of Jesus to the world by washing one dirty foot at a time!

Do You Wash My Feet?

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He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” John 13:6 ESV

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

When I was four years old, we lived in a tiny apartment over a store and my back yard was the flat roof of the building with a wall around its edge. One morning as I was out there playing with some pots and pans, I got the notion of flinging a frying pan over the wall, but my happy smile turned to terror as I heard loud yelling below and then the sound of footsteps coming up the fire escape. Soon the angry face of a delivery truck driver appeared at the top of the stairs holding the frying pan in his hand! My memory fails me as to what happened beyond the well-deserved spanking my mother dished out that day. As she finished, I shouted, “I don’t like you! I want to go live with Gammy and Cap-Cap!” (My grandparents) Mom quietly smiled as she dried my tears, then without argument, fetched my suitcase, put it up on the bed and started to help me pack. Soon I was down on the street, holding my luggage in one hand, staring determinedly ahead as mom pointed, “Okay you walk up this road about 500 miles and you’ll come to their house.” I made it about half a block when the sound of cars swooshing past and the long late afternoon shadows struck fear in my heart and in tears, I ran back to my mom and threw my arms around her. How hard it was to admit that she had been right all along and that I loved her! Just like me, Peter hated to admit how much he needed Jesus. He was ashamed how dirty his feet were, and shocked to see Jesus kneeling to wash them. But Jesus not only washed Peter’s feet, He wants to wash yours and mine as well. If we simply confess our need for Him, what a joy is ours when He washes us, then picks us up and carries us all the way home!

Ducks and Eagles

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Ducks and Eagles
 Way up in the sky
  Eagle soars all alone
 Far from the mud below
 Flying high in the blue
 He thinks it is true
 That he’s the best bird in the show
  
 While down at the farm
  Ducky waddles along
 With his tribe by the edge of the stream
 Leading them on
 To the cool water’s edge
 Where their dirty feet 
 Can be washed clean
 
 Now that I your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, 
you should also wash one another’s feet            
John 13:14 NIV 

Ducks and Eagles by Peter Caligiuri
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