Knowing God - John 13:5
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples' feet
John 13:5
As most of you know, my son Jay is a freshman this year at the United States Naval Academy. It's a very different kind of school. Therefore, my favorite text message from this fall was this:
The bad news is that I have a huge black eye.
The good news is that I got an "A" in boxing.
Today is known in many countries, like England, as "Boxing Day." It has nothing to do with hitting, sports, or black eyes; rather it is a day when, traditionally, the royalty and their servants traded jobs.
Jesus was royalty. When he washed his disciples feet, he reminded us that his whole life was "trading jobs." The king was always and continually a servant.
Today is Boxing Day. Who might you be called to serve this day?
In Christ's Love,
a guy who'd rather get an "A" in serving
than a black-eyed "A" in boxing
--------------------------------Sometimes, serving others is easy. I find it much easier to do for others. Clean someone else's house. Help someone in need. Volunteer for people in need. But when someone offers to help me, I (99% of the time) decline the offer. I would much rather be the one giving than accepting. It is much easier to wash someone else's feet than to humble myself enough to allow them to wash my feet. or help clean my house. or anything else that I likely really need. I am not worthy enough to have someone else wash my feet or help me in anyway.
Labels: Know God, Pastor's devos
posted by Chris K at
07:30
1 Comments:
I have a problem with this too...helping others, but not accepting help when I need it (or even when I don't), but after having a conversation with a wise friend, I've come to realize that it's pride that keeps me from accepting help. That receiving graciously is just as much an art (or discipline) as giving.
Just a few weeks ago, a friend who has a ton of frequent flyer miles used some of them to get a plane ticket for my husband to fly home and see his dad. The ticket is easily worth $250. They only asked us to reimburse them for the small fee they had to pay to get the ticket. This person makes considerably less than us, and we were willing (even eager) to bless them by paying them for the full value of the ticket. Then, when talking to them about it (not directly but trying to figure out if they would even let us do it), we found out that they viewed helping us with the ticket as a sort of ministry. This person's dad died young and he thought it was really important to make sure my husband got to see his elderly dad a few extra times before he died. It didn't matter that we can buy the ticket on our own...in insisting to pay for the ticket we would have been taking away their ability to give to us in one of the few ways they could. So, we smiled and said thank you...and we'll look for ways to "pay it forward." But I have to say that it was a good lesson for us to learn.
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Speak gently. carefully. thoughtfully. graciously. humbly.
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