Tag: Lord

I Must Do What He Has Taught Me

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“If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other’s feet.”

John 13:14, NCV

Jesus sets out a lot of things and lays them out on the table.  We gather around to get a closer look.  A significant issue is this deal about  becoming a servant.  It stipulates a certain fact that drives us all ‘very crazy’.  Jesus has stated so much, but now we’re being pushed to the edge.  Afterall, there is only so much we can put up with.

But Jesus fully intends to open up this subject, for us to see.  The idea is beyond bizarre, He is saying things which are very strange.  He dictates that we are to start acting like the lowest slaves in our homes.  These slaves have the gross task of cleaning everyone’s feet.  This is the sole work of the ‘bottom scum’.  This is now the ready place for His followers.

There are many ways we can wash feet in the 21st Century.  But the two stages involve #1, stooping down low, and #2, providing beneficial service to our brother on-the-chair.  These are the two essential thrusts to our new life of servanthood. It is only Biblical servanthood if we connect with both stages.

Jesus sees all of this, this washing business, as something He has done first-hand.  He certainly hasn’t ‘commanded’ us without doing it Himself first.  He leads us, and just doesn’t direct us.  Many leaders have gotten confused on this issue.  But our Lord ‘excels’.  He models it, and we begin to understand its glory.

In essence, He states, “Look at Me, watch how I do this.  And then you must copy Me’.  We believers are always to be looking, spiritually observant.  We see our example cleaning dirty feet, and we find ourselves in that same role.  Understanding the disgusting concept of feet-washing was very close to the level of wiping someone elses butt.  Extremely disagreeably, with zero upside to it.  It would’ve been crude, gross and demeaning.

Jesus is disciplining us, and we look unswerving to Him.  We will follow and not look back.  We are an army made up exclusively of servants.  We will take the lowest spot, and we will love everyone we come in contact with.

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When Kindness Meets Truth, [Kissing]

No escape from here.
No escape from here.

7 But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important court official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate, 8 so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him. 9 “My lord the king,” he said, “these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone.”

10 So the king told Ebed-melech, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”

11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope. 12 Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes.” Then when Jeremiah was ready,13 they pulled him out. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of the guard—the palace prison—where he remained.

Jeremiah 38:7-13, NLT

You can see a lot of truth here. Ebed-melech chooses to stand rather than capitulate to the nastiness around him. He is not cowed by the sinful conspiracies that are operating at the highest level.

Ebed-melech sticks his neck out— he rescues the prophet Jeremiah, and pleases God. As just a minor character he still plays a major role. He is set apart by this commitment to what is right and true. If he lived in the 20th century, I think he would have been one who would have rescued Jews from the Nazi regime. He was fearless.

But he is much more. He is not just dedicated to the truth, but he is also kind.  We see it in the way he saved Jeremiah. He finds old clothing and rags from a closet in the Treasury. With these he pads the rope, so Jeremiah won’t unduly suffer as he is pulled up out of the mire.

“Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.”

Psalm 85:10, NKJV

Ebed-melech reveals his heart by showing this kindness. One could suggest that these rags were not really necessary. The rope we need, of course.

Ebed could have just used the rope, and he would’ve been right. But he uses the rags, and he becomes kind.

This blend of truth and kindness is rare. But I have known people that were both. They are definitely “true blue” and they are absorbed by living out the truth, and doing the right thing. But they are much more than this. Their righteous lives are filled with kindness and gentleness. This is a spiritually potent mix.

Oh dear one, we need both in the Church. It is from these kinds of people that will cause us to stick together. I say, if we are going to err, I would hope we would stay kind.

“I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.”

–Mother Teresa

May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.

—Anonymous

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They Are Bread for Us! [Challenges]

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“Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.”

Numbers 14:9-10

Exactly, how do we see our challenges? During the time of Moses and Joshua, and when the land of Canaan [still out there] had yet to be conquered, was still waiting, this happened. But there were many [most] who wanted out. In their limited experience, they saw some serious problems– disaster, becoming a slaughter. They were terrified.

An attempt to stall this insurgency, a few speak up. They call it what it is– rebellion. The people [enmass] begin to organize. More a mob than a crowd, things get nasty. Moses stands up, and speaks loud enough to be heard. [He is not a public speaker.] “And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”

Many times we have to choose. The decision to follow Him is almost always dangerous. It requires daring ideas, and is against much of we label common sense. People will always speak doubtful things, and we find little support for our faith to launch out.

Bread is there to build us up. It is good food that might strengthen us. It becomes the metaphor for strength that increases. I grew up with “Popeye” eating spinach out of a can. He found lots of energy, with amazing new abilities. [It almost persuaded me to eat it.] The enemies in the land may seem to be formidable, and without the presence of God they were.

But we are really strengthened by our foes. That which did not weaken us, but only made us stronger. What is bread? Why it is “the staff of life.” In 1 Corinthians 16:9, “There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.”

Victory is never easy. It would be easy if it is always found in a can of spinach. But it is not. It is exclusive to the “presence” of God. Our foes will only fortify us. And that’s a promise for you.

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I Want Home

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‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”                                                                                  

Jeremiah 32:17, ESV

“One should go to sleep as homesick passengers do, saying, “Perhaps in the morning we shall see the shore.” 

Henry Ward Beecher

I have never been there, except in a stuttering way on my knees in the Lord’s presence.  From there it is like climbing a mountain, and breaking through at the summit.  It is an astonishing awareness of home.  It is where I belong.  He wants me there.

But most of the time, I’m slogging through the peanut-butter of everyday reality.  It’s ‘scootch-slide-scootch’ most of the time.  But I recall my last trip up, so I hold on to that fragrant memory, and it is a tremendous relief to think about his presence.

I want home.  I can’t wait.  I hope he’s not disappointed in me, or disturbed by the fact that I have made such little progress.  The depression and despondency will slough off its skin like a snake.  I will know true freedom.  This is a sure thing.

I want home.  The presence of Jesus is waiting.  All of the knots will be worked out.  The dark burdens that nip at my heels will disappear.  This change is going to be powerful, and most certainly dramatic, and I want home.

For those of us who believe, we will arrive at a place of profound blessing.  We will squint back at our life on earth, and wonder what it was all about.  A hundred thousand years from now it will seem like a difficult dream which we really can’t remember upon waking.

We will be moving toward him.  There will be a magnetism that will exert its pull on our wandering hearts.  He will draw us to himself.  Guilt and shame, which has deeply infected us will be eradicated.  Sometimes, when people train to run they will wear “training weights,” creating more of a burden that has to be overcome.  In that way heaven can be understood, for we have spent well over 50 years training for that place.

We come into all of this like a man who has been lost in the desert. Without water, we stumble into what looks like a watery oasis, and we find a refreshing relief.  We have been “saved” from a certain death.  When we consider what has happened, and how the superheated desert almost destroyed us, we will marvel, and that quite often.  Each one there will have a story of failure and faith, and we will listen and than tell our story as well.

What has to be stated, and restated, is the astonishing presence of Jesus in that place.  Not only in our thinking, but in a real concrete way.  Heaven is not an an abstract or ethereal thing.  It is solid and strong.  We don’t imagine heaven, instead we are pounded by it.  It is more real than real, with a solidity that we will find most refreshing.

“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

James 1:12

“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.”

Revelation 3:11

Hold on guys, keep your crown.  Don’t let anyone snatch it from you.  Advance into his presence, and let him do his stuff on you.  He loves you, far more than you love him.  He is pursuing you more than you are pursuing him.  Somehow that is quite comforting.  I want home!

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