Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Being Examples

JOHN 13:14-15 – If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

THEME OF THE DAY. BEING EXAMPLES. It overwhelms us. It did the disciples. To observe the Creator of all things and people stoop down and wash the dirty feet of sinners would indeed overwhelm us and that in two ways. First, the magnitude of humility Jesus puts forth. This is no lowly servant, yet He is taking on the role of the lowliest of all servants. Imagine watching Jesus take each foot of His disciples and clean them. I am sure He occasionally looked up into each one’s eyes as He did. That look would forever cement in the disciples His love and commitment to them. But there is something else about this intimate setting with Jesus washing feet which overwhelms us. It is found in today’s scripture. It is the command of the Lord for each of us to go and do likewise; to go and wash feet, to go and follow His example.

People in our spheres of influence – family, neighbors, co-workers, even our brothers and sisters in the Lord – are going to get an accurate and appealing picture of Jesus Christ more from what they observe in and from us than the words they hear from us. Now that doesn’t mean we remain silent with the Gospel. No one gets saved and meets Christ by only observing a genuine Christian. It is the message of the Gospel that must be proclaimed for one to be saved from their sins, but it is also a message to be affirmed by lifestyle which gives credibility to the message proclaimed. So, if we are going to obey the Lord’s command and be examples of Him in sacrificial and humble service, what must we be and do? At least two things . . .

First, to be an example of Jesus in service to others we must embrace His command to do so as our life calling. Christians are servants. Christians are slaves of Christ. Christians have surrendered their rights to their lives. And this brings us great joy. The serving Christian will be the happy Christian. The self-denying Christian will be the contented Christians. If we are to follow Jesus as foot-washing examples, we begin with knowing this is our calling throughout life and to all people.

The next step in following our Lord in exemplifying His example of service is not profound but this is where many Christians fail. We go from knowing our servant calling to be a called servant. We obey Him. We do it. We get active. We serve others. We sacrifice for people. We wash their feet. We become purposeful, intentional, and put action into our lives by tangibly serving others. However, to do this means we must be in the lives of those we serve, knowing their needs and then meeting those needs.

Yes, Jesus impacted people with His preaching and power. He also left indelible marks on people, especially His disciples, by His example. We shall do likewise as we follow Him – the called servant of Christ following His example.
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PRAYER: “Father, may my life reflect Your Son in all that I do and say.”

QUOTE: “People will take more notice of who Jesus is by what they see in us than hear from us.”