Jesus Washes The Disciples' Feet

 

 

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus… got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing,… and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. — John 13:2-5 NIV

It has been a long day. Jerusalem is packed with Passover guests, most of whom clamor for a glimpse of the Teacher. The spring sun is warm. The streets are dry. And the disciples are a long way from home. A splash of cool water would be refreshing.

The disciples enter the room, one by one, and take their places around the table. On the wall hangs a towel, and on the floor sit a pitcher and a basin. Any one of the disciples could volunteer for the job, but not one does.

After a few moments Jesus stands and removes His outer garment. He wraps a servant’s girdle around His waist, takes up the basin, and kneels before one of the disciples. He unlaces a sandal and gently lifts the foot, places it in the basin, covers it with water, and begins to bathe it.

One grimy foot after another, Jesus works His way down the row. In Jesus’ day the washing of feet was a task reserved not just for servants but for the lowest of servants.

In this case the One with the towel and basin is the King of the universe.

Hands that shaped the stars now wash away filth. Fingers that formed mountains now massage toes. And the One before whom all nations will one day kneel now kneels before His disciples. Hours before His own death, Jesus’ concern is singular.

He wants His disciples to know how much He loves them.

You can be sure Jesus knows the future of these feet He is washing. These feet will dash for cover at the flash of a Roman sword. Only one pair of feet won’t abandon Him in the Garden… Judas will abandon Jesus that very night at the table.

What a passionate moment when Jesus silently lifts the feet of His betrayer and washes them in the basin.

Jesus knows what these men are about to do. By morning they will bury their heads in shame and look down at their feet in disgust. And when they do, He wants them to remember how His knees knelt before them and He washed their feet…

He forgave their sin before they even committed it. He offered mercy before they even sought it.

~ Just Like Jesus

King of the universe, I’d like to think I would have washed Your feet and done better than the other disciples, but I know that’s not true. Thank You for loving me and washing my feet and offering me mercy when I deserve none. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

 

~From  On Calvary’s Hill by Max Lucado

Get Nourished By The Word of God

 

 

In Matthew 6, Jesus told us to treat partaking in the presence of God like eating our daily bread. You don’t have to know the whole Bible to take a bite of it today. And you don’t have to understand the overwhelming scope of the people of Israel to go to the Word right now and grab a fistful of nourishment for your heart. No one (least of all God) is expecting you to stuff yourself with knowledge, and you’re enough, just as He made you, to seek Him right where you are. Maybe you can remember the Bible better than I can. But whatever you do, don’t let the Enemy convince you that God’s Word isn’t for you.

 

~From Always Enough, Never Too Much by Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan 

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Plan For God's Guidance

 

In order to stay on the path God intends for our lives, we should plan times to stop, ask, and listen for guidance. The world throws confusing messages at us all day long, and we need to check our course frequently. These conversations with the Lord are vital for a thriving life of godly impact.

 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, Intouch.org

 

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God's Assurance Of Your Salvation

 

 

Paul’s words in Romans 8:28-39 are the most compelling on the subject of preservation anywhere in Scripture. I say this for two reasons. First, their purpose is to teach preservation. Second, this is the most extensive biblical passage teaching that God keeps his saints.

Familiar words lead off:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. — Romans 8:28

In context, “all things” means even “present sufferings” (Romans 8:18). Those who love God, namely believers, should realize that God works all things, even their difficulties and pain, for their ultimate good. Paul tells us how: God has planned their greatest benefit, their final salvation (Romans 8:29-30). The apostle here begins the first of four arguments for why Christians are safe in God’s grace. He bases each argument on one of God’s qualities: God will preserve His saints because of His sovereignty (Romans 8:29-30), might (Romans 8:31-32), justice (Romans 8:33-34), and compassion (Romans 8:35-39).

We Are Safe Because of God’s Sovereignty (Romans 8:29-30)

Paul begins verses 29–30 with the Greek word meaning for or because to explain how we know that God works all things for our ultimate benefit. It is because He has planned salvation, our highest good, from start to finish. Paul employs five verbs in the past tense to set forth God’s plan. God is the subject of each verb, and God’s people are the direct object of each verb.

God foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified believers.

God foreknew His saints. Foreknow and foreknowledge have several meanings in the New Testament. They refer to God’s choosing Christ (Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:20) and to people knowing facts beforehand (Acts 26:5; 2 Peter 3:17). But whenever God is the one who foreknows and Christians are the ones He foreknows, foreknew and foreknowledge refer to God’s prior love for them (Romans 8:29; Romans 8:11:2; 1 Peter 1:2).

For two reasons foreknew in Romans 8:29 does not mean that God knows facts beforehand, including who would believe in Christ. (Of course, God knows all facts, including these, but that is simply not what Romans 8:29 is talking about.) First, here God does not foreknow facts but people: “those God foreknew.” Second, here only some are foreknown. Paul would say that all were foreknown if He meant that God knew people’s responses to the gospel beforehand. But Paul says some, not all, are foreknown because the ones foreknown are the same people who are predestined, called, justified, and glorified. Plainly, not all human beings will be glorified. Therefore, in this text God foreknows some and not all people — that is, He loved them beforehand. Elsewhere Paul tells us how far beforehand — “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV) and “before the ages began” (2 Timothy 1:9 ESV).

Those He foreknew, God “also predestined” (Romans 8:29). Predestination is God in sovereign mercy choosing people for salvation. Paul writes succinctly,

God… has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. — 2 Timothy 1:8-9

The apostle highlights predestination more than the other four verbs in Romans 8:29-30. Notice that it is only this verb that Paul expands: we were “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29). All who become God’s children by faith in His Son (John 1:12; Galatians 3:24) will be conformed to his character. This is a great encouragement for us who frequently struggle with temptation!

Paul says, “And those He predestined, He also called” (Romans 8:30). He means those God chose for salvation He successfully summons to Christ in the gospel. God “calls” them by bringing them to believe in His Son. “And those He called, He also justified.” Those God summons to Christ, He declares righteous based on Christ’s saving death and resurrection.

Paul’s next words concern God’s preservation of His people. He says, “Those He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:30). Remarkably, glorification, a future aspect of salvation, appears in the past tense like the other four verbs. Glorification is the act of God’s grace by which His resurrected people see Christ’s glory and are thereby transformed so they share that glory (Colossians 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Peter 5:1).

Why does Paul put future glorification in the past tense? “Those He justified, He also glorified.” He does so to present all five actions in the same way, as accomplished realities.

Thomas Schreiner explains, “What is envisioned is the eschatological completion of God’s work on behalf of believers that began before history, and the aorist signifies the certainty that what God has begun He will finish.” We who know Christ and fight against sin now will one day fight no more. We will be glorified and in turn will glorify God for such a great salvation.

Almighty God keeps every one of His foreloved, predestined, called, and justified people for ultimate salvation — glorification. This is indicated by Paul’s use of pronouns:

For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son… And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. — Romans 8:29-30

No one who trusts Christ for redemption will fail to be saved.

Our sovereign heavenly Father will keep every believer safe in his Son for final glorification.

 

~From  The Assurance of Salvation by Robert A. Peterson 

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Studying Scripture Helps Build Your Spiritual Foundation

 

 

The Word of God is a lifeline for every Christian. Paul instructed his readers that the Word of God will teach us as well as provide encouragement and hope. The psalmist wrote,
 

My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your Word. — Psalm 119:28 NIV


The Bible is the primary way God communicates with His people. As we read the Scriptures, we are taking in the message God intends to communicate (2 Timothy 3:16). He uses the Scriptures to increase our understanding, give us strength, correct us, and encourage us. As we approach the Scriptures, we will be wise to ask God to increase our understanding of His Word. Like the psalmist, we can pray,
 

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law. — Psalm 119:18 NIV


Reading God’s Word is a privilege, and being a student of the Scriptures is something every believer in Christ can benefit from.

Father, please give me a deep love for Your Word. Reveal truth to me from Your Scriptures, and allow Your Word to be the guiding authority of my life.

 

~From The God of Comfort by Zondervan

 

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Speak The Truth In Love

 

 

I once saw a television interview with Mariah Carey, one of the most successful artists in the history of pop music, in which she said that if she hears a thousand words of praise and one word of criticism, that one criticism will eliminate the thousand praises in her mind.

Can you identify with this dilemma? I certainly can.

Praise and approval slip through our fingers like sand. Shaming and criticism, on the other hand, stick to us like Velcro and can feel impossible to shake off, no matter how hard we try.

The serpent that tempted Adam and Eve, also known as the “accuser of the brethren” or Satan (Revelation 12:10), is the same deceiver of us — whispering constantly in our ears, “Did God actually say…?” (Genesis 3:1). Has God really said you are forgiven, blameless in His sight, and forever loved? Surely not! We both know you are guilty, shameful, and worthless! The serpent hisses these lies to our hearts constantly.

This is why nineteenth-century minister Robert Murray M’Cheyne said that for every one look we take at ourselves, we should take ten looks at Christ. Our chronic tendency to crank up the volume on the serpent’s voice of accusation and bondage and to dial down the volume on the Father’s voice of pardon and freedom makes this practice of taking ten looks at Christ into an essential, daily endeavor. If we are ever to move past our habitual, primal patterns of posing, self-defending, and hiding, then we must learn and embrace some new patterns of mind and heart. For this to be possible, we are going to need help from each other.

One practical way we can hear the Father’s voice more clearly is to practice what Scripture calls “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) with each other. We must, as writer Ann Voskamp once said in a talk she gave at our church, “only speak words that make souls stronger.”

As the beloved, blood-bought daughters and sons of God, we must use our words to call out the best in each other versus punishing each other for the worst.

To speak the truth in love is to offer encouragement, to put courage into a soul.

One of our primary resources for doing so consists in the carefully chosen, life-giving words that God has already declared over us all.

If all of our Christian communities and churches were sold out to this one simple practice — to only speak words that make souls stronger — I wonder how many spiritually disengaged people would start wanting to engage. I wonder how many religious skeptics would want to start investigating Christianity instead of keeping their distance from its claims and its followers. Do you wonder the same?

It has been said that the best “outreach” we can offer is to become the kind of community that we would want to be part of and the kind of community that is difficult to find anywhere else. This might actually be Christians’ best opportunity in the current cultural moment, where everyone seems to be on a hair trigger, always looking for something or someone to be offended by. I wonder if this simple, age-old, cost-free, compelling initiative is the key to turning a regular faith into an irresistible one. What if all it took for us to become the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth” and the “city on a hill” to our friends, neighbors, and colleagues was to choose kindness over criticism toward one another, giving the benefit of the doubt over assuming the worst in one another, building each other up instead of tearing each other down. What kind of difference — if we committed ourselves to this — do you think it would make?

Do you remember that silly saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”? I think Mariah Carey was a lot more honest than this in her interview when she admitted how much criticism stings. While sticks and stones may indeed break our bones, words can also wound us deeply and crush our spirits. Anyone who has received bad news, been shamed or criticized, or been the brunt of a mean joke or gossip understands this. Millions of men and women are in therapy because of wounds inflicted on them by words spoken to them either by others or by their own hearts.

Here are just few examples: You are worthless. You are ugly. You will never amount to much. You disappoint me. Why can’t you be more like your brother? You are too fat. You are too thin. I want a divorce. You should be ashamed of yourself. I hate you. I wish you were never born.

However, words not only have the power to crush spirits; they also have a mighty power to lift spirits, to bring strength to the weary, to give hope to the hopeless, to put courage back in, to make souls stronger. Words like these:

You matter.

You are the image of God.

You are loved at your best, and you are loved at your worst.

You are uniquely gifted.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

You are God’s child, the bride of Jesus, the vessel of the Holy Spirit, and an heir of the kingdom.

I see potential in you.

I value you.

I need you.

I respect you.

Will you forgive me? I forgive you.

I like you.

I love you.

These are the kinds of words that lift a heart and bring healing to a soul. They can free the chameleon from hiding in fear. These life-giving words can provide courage for the performer and poseur in each of us to come out of hiding, step into the light, and tell our true story — our blemishes, struggles, and sin, as well as the beauty, goodness, and mercy of God that we experience in the midst of them.

 

~From Irresistible Faith by Scott Sauls 

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Let God Fight Your Battles

 

 

God said He would fight your battles. He would restore the years that were stolen from you. What the enemy meant for your evil, He would turn it around for your good. Nowhere in there does it say that you have to sneak-diss or sub-tweet. Nah, you just keep doing you, as excellently as you’ve been doing, and eventually those who conspire against you will trip over themselves to bless you.

 

~From Bamboozled By Jesus: How God Tricked Me into the Life of My Dreams by Yvonne Orji, Actress, Author, Comedian

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Repent And Clear Your Negative Thoughts

 

 

When we feel frustrated or stuck in our ruts of false belief, we can pray that God will change the very neural pathways in our brain. We can ask Him to rewire the innermost parts of our minds on a biological level. He created us. He knit us together in our mothers’ bellies. I believe that He can change the way my brain tangles together and makes connections. Do you believe that too?

Let’s practice together. We can pray this prayer when we’re feeling the effects of our false beliefs:

Lord, You are mighty in me. You made me. You put every cell together and came up with me. You are the Lord of my life, and You are the Lord of my mind. Lord, I have believed things that are not true, and I’m sorry for that. Please forgive me. Lord, because You are good, would You let the ways I used to think die off and then would You blaze a new trail in my mind? Would You stop connections in my brain that are tied to my old way of thinking and form new neural pathways with Your good truth? Thank You, Lord, for Your forgiveness and for the miraculous way You made me. Please remake my mind to be more like Yours.

That is a beautiful moment of repentance — of receiving His grace that comes after we go to Him, humble, needy, unable to heal ourselves.

That is one moment of repentance — repentance for years of being a false preacher in your own head, repentance for overlooking His good news and still preferring the bad news. This is the kind of repenting that happens a thousand times a day. When you go about your day and all is well, you thank God for keeping you on the narrow path. When you catch a bad news loop gearing up, you shush it, preach to yourself, and then get back to the good news. You pray, “Forgive me, God. I want to believe; please help me overcome my unbelief.”

This is the kind of repentance where you skin your knees and get back up. This is the kind of repentance that you commit to, knowing that God is urging you on to good works. His Spirit is mighty in you, and you are renewing your mind!

Don’t get stuck in guilt and shame. The work of turning around is the work of honesty and wholeness. There is a peaceful kind of power that comes when you go God’s way, however imperfectly it might be.

In Romans 12:2, the apostle Paul writes,

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

You renew; God transforms. To “be transformed” means that something outside of you is doing the transforming. You must be faithful to take the thoughts captive, but ultimately, God is the only one who can change our minds.

 

~From Preach to Yourself by Hayley Morgan 

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Are All Your Treasures On Earth?

 

 

Jesus’ words contain the absolute secret of passion in any relationship. He was telling His disciples to invest their lives in the things of God and not to focus on the things of this world. And He concluded with a powerful sentence: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

To understand the importance of that statement, let me help you understand the meaning of two words Jesus used in the original language. In the Greek language that the New Testament was written in, the word for treasure is thesauros. It means treasure or wealth. But it also means a treasury, or the place where we deposit our wealth.

The second important word in Jesus’ statement is heart. It is the Greek word kardia. It means the seat of our emotions and passions. Here is a paraphrase of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 6:21: Wherever you are depositing the treasures of your life, your passion will be there also.

Jesus knew if His disciples were investing their lives in worldly things they would lose their focus and passion for Him. So, He wisely exhorted them to lay up their treasures in Heaven. He did this because He knew an important truth:

You cannot separate your treasures from your passions.

In other words, you will always be most passionate about the people, pursuits, and places where you are investing the best of your life. Your passions will always follow the investments of your time, energy, and strengths.

Here is another way to say it: Your passions are telling on you. If you aren’t passionate about your marriage, what are you passionate about? Car racing, golf, children, work, church, friends, QVC?

Where are you investing the best of your time, energy, and strengths?

 

~From Strengths Based Marriage by Jimmy Evans and Allan Kelsey

 

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Man's Need For God

 

 

In Pensées, Pascal reflects on man’s search for happiness, writing: “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.” The same God Who formed us is the God Who knows us and Who wants to be known by us. Just as an artistic masterpiece cannot be fully understood apart from understanding the artist, so we cannot separate our purpose from our Creator—the God Who gave us birth.

 

~From 40 Days of the Names, Titles, and Attributes of God by Gina L. Diorio

 

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Who Jesus Is

 

 

The first chapter of Revelation gives a compact description of the Lord. In verses 4 to 8, John condenses the wonder of Jesus Christ to the bare but beautiful essentials of who He is:

Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. Jesus came to earth to more fully reveal the character and ways of the Father (John 14:9). The miracles He performed validated His claim to be the Son of God.

Jesus Christ is the first-born from the dead. The Savior bore our sins and died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day. His resurrection proved that eternal life is possible for us, too, as Jesus taught in John 11:25: “He who believes in Me will live even if he dies.”

Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth. It is the Lord who raises men to power, just as it is He who removes them (John 19:11; Rom. 13:1). Meanwhile, believers have access to a higher authority. In God’s throne room, we can beseech Him on behalf of our nations and lay claim to His promises.

Jesus Christ loves us and released us from our sins by His blood. Note the change of tense in John’s writing. The Lord’s love is ever-present, but He has freed believers from their past. Both the penalty and power of sin have been broken.

When people ask you about Jesus, introduce Him by guiding them through this mini-biography. In just a few sentences, John describes Christ’s character, divinity, and authority. The disciple was not timid about proclaiming the Lord. We shouldn’t be shy, either, when we serve so great a Savior.

 

~From Pastor Charles Stanley, Intouch Ministries, Intouch.org 

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Live A Life Of Service For Christ

 

 

Jesus shows us how to live a life of service by doing the very same for us. Jesus gave it all up for us (2 Corinthians 5:21, 8:9; Philippians 2:5–8), laid down His life willingly (John 10:18), got into the muck and the mess (Mark 5:25–34, 7:33; John 9:6), and served with love, joy, and compassion (Mark 6:30–44; John 13:1–17). Jesus laid down His life to save us, and He calls us His people saved by His work to lay down our lives (our old ways, our selfish desires, ambitions, agendas, and will) for Him, His will, His kingdom, and His purpose.

It’s such a privilege to be a believer. We get to follow the example of our Savior, to live for and be part of something so much greater than we could imagine. We get to be used by God to bring people into salvation and lead them into the hope of eternity. We get to follow in the footsteps of our King and Lord—and all it takes is us laying down our less than lives for a greater kingdom and purpose! Praise Jesus for this glorious call.
 

~From The Gospel Of Mark Devotional, Part 5 on YouVersion

 

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God Is Always Near

 

 

I always used to ask God to be near, but recently I’ve tried to shift my prayers a little. I don’t think it’s wrong to ask Him to be near, and I certainly don’t think He gets annoyed if we do even though He is already close by. What He mostly cares about is that we’re coming to Him, that we’re talking to Him. I’ve also realized that all of Scripture points to a God who can’t not be near.

Think about it: when we’re in Christ, what can keep us from His love? Romans 8 tells us that nothing — nothing — can keep us from the love of God. Not death, not height, not depth. Not angels, not demons. Not our fear. Nothing in creation can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35–39).

So why would we ask God to be near if He’s promised that He won’t go anywhere? And why, then, do we not feel near to Him all the time?

I’d like to propose that perhaps we’re the variable, not Him. If He’s always available and nothing we can do will keep Him away, then maybe it’s us. Maybe we’re not recognizing Him. Maybe we’re not acknowledging Him. Maybe we’re ignoring Him. And while that sounds heavy and potentially disheartening, it’s actually really great news, and here’s why: you’re enough for Him to draw near. When He sees you, He sees His Son; and when He looks into your soul, He sees the Spirit. There’s nothing you can do to keep Him away, and there’s no place you can run where He won’t go to meet with you. So if you don’t feel near to Him, it cannot possibly be because you’ve done something to displease Him or make Him turn away.

I dare you to change your prayers, not because it will make Him happier with you (nothing can!), but simply because it will remind your heart how faithful and near He always is.

Rather than asking Him to be near, ask Him to give you eyes to see Him. Rather than asking what you can do to make Him come closer, maybe just ask that He helps you see how close He is. Jesus came the distance, He came all the way to the Cross, and nothing can separate you from His love and grace.

~From Always Enough Never Too Much by Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan

Stay Encouraged and Be Blessed!