Following Jesus’ Example

Have you ever thought, really thought, about Jesus washing His disciples’ stinky feet? Have you seriously applied His words in John 13:14 to yourself? “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

Lord and Teacher—meditate on Jesus putting those two titles for Himself in one command. The Lord is on His knees washing dirty feet. Messy. Time-consuming. Dirty. Unpleasant. Didn’t He have better things to do? Yet, His act demonstrated more than the simple act of washing feet. Jesus was teaching us the importance of humility toward one another. He was teaching us about servanthood and, yes, even forgiveness.

Our Lord and Teacher physically illustrated what He would do spiritually through His substitutionary death on the cross. It would be messy (a bloody mess). He would wash our filth and sins from our inner man. As His disciples, He instructs us to go and do as He did. Take the time to humbly forgive, to humbly serve one person at a time. And hopefully, prayerfully, it will gain us an opportunity to share with the person why we are doing it, and in whose Name we are serving.

Jesus, Lord and TEACHER, thank You for washing and cleansing me of my sins. Make me increasingly mindful of following Your example. 

Our key verse today is John 13:14. Watch all of Debbie’s teaching on John 13 HERE or listen to it HERE.

There are times we’re called to do something we’d prefer not to do. Perhaps for you, it’s a medical procedure. For a parent, it may be changing another diaper. A person might wish they could stay in bed rather than go to work. Then, there are those excruciatingly painful occasions when we may be called to help with an intervention or change the lock on a door to keep an abusive person out of the house.

There is only one person who has known the great sacrifice of dying on the cross so the human race could be saved. Jesus asked His Father for a way other than the cross, but when it was the only way, He submitted His will to His Father’s will.

“He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will'” (Matthew 26:39).

Is there something you don’t want to do or perhaps want to do that is different from God’s will? Will you trust your Heavenly Father, submit your will to His, and walk through it in Christ’s strength?

Lord Jesus, thank You for modeling being SUBMISSIVE and for modeling trusting our Heavenly Father’s will. Help me be submissive as You were. 

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