John 13:8 NIV
[8] “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” John 13:9 NIV
Peter thought it beneath Jesus to wash his feet. He did not want the one he knew to be the son of God, their long awaited king, the Messiah, kneeling at his feet and washing them. Jesus knew that Peter meant no offense in his statement but He needed all his deciples to understand that if he did not wash them clean they would have no part in Him. To this day we all must be washed by Jesus to share in His presence and glory. Of course, we mean washed spiritually by His blood. If we are not cleaned by the blood of Christ, if we have not made a statement of Faith and asked Him into our lives, then we are not shareholders in His reward. He must be part of us for us to be part of Him. Like Rev. Dr. L.H.VanBeek once said. His Spirit draws us to Him so He can give His Spirit to us. It’s such a profound thing. And something to be longed for and valued.
Category: Love
Feet part 1
John 13:14 NIV
[14] Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
I love this verse even more since I read a Devotional by the head of the Pocket Testament League. Yes their name does make PTL and we all enjoy the pun of them saying Praise the Lord in their name.
The Devotional said that Jesus washed Judas’s feet too.
I had never thought of that. Jesus washed the feet of the man he knew was going to betray him. The washing of the feet was not symbolic of the washing of the sins. It was symbolic of the serving of one another. This showed that Jesus was willing to bend down and serve his greatest Earthly enemy and that moment. I don’t enjoy the love your enemy reverse. We live in a culture that promotes Revenge and treating your enemies the way they deserve. But the Bible is always been counterculture and that is a good thing. If Jesus could wash the feet of the man who is about to sell him to be beaten and nailed to a cross, I can do my best to open doors for people I don’t like and to offer to help people who annoy me. Does that mean that I will never complain about them? Nope. I probably still will, but I need to do better. If Jesus could wash the feet of his betrayer then I can be kinder to those who wear the badge of enemy when they stand before me. Not because I am bowing to them or what they’re standing for, not because I suddenly agree with their opinions or think that their behavior or attitude or cruelty was deserved or right. I can treat them better because I know that Jesus would have washed their feet too. Jesus wasn’t condoning What Judas was about to do. He wasn’t saying yep you’re going to sin against me and betray me and that’s totally fine. He was saying this is what you should do, wash the feet of your beloved friends and your worst enemies. Not because they deserve it, but because through this act, they might find Jesus.
Hands part 6
Luke 18:15- they came for Jesus to lay hands on them and heal them.
I love this. For Luke who was a doctor, to see healing that could not be explained with science or medication must have been mind blowing. To touch the sick, the injured, the maimed the blind, the deaf, the leper, and to see healing, that would have brought him to his knees. I have seen God do some pretty crazy stuff, not yet have I seen a limb grow back but that would be awesome. The fact is that God can do these things. He does them through us, if only we have Faith and pray for the impossible. Sometimes He does not answer our big crazy request, but we have to always make space for his will, the times he does answer or times we need to remember and thank him for so that when he doesn’t answer we don’t lose our faith. Jesus used to do these healings in person, he used to do Insane healings that made no sense to the people watching, he would lay his hands on those people and you would see them be restored. Those hands that we nailed to the cross. Hands that healed were wounded because of us.
Hands part 5
Luke 23:46 says: Into your hands I trust my spirit.
Into your hands I trust. Five of the hardest words we ever say to God. I trust you Jesus. With this and all things. It makes a nice fridge magnet but do we mean it? How often do we say it? Leaving God to take over is so hard because we are doing creatures. It’s sort of like domesticating a wolf and trying to teach him that he is no longer needing to hunt and fight to survive, now you feed and protect him. God takes us out of our struggle and brokenness and cares for us, but we want to take care of ourselves because we think we know better, this reminds me of a poem:
Let Go and Let God by Laurette Burns
As children bring their broken toys,
with tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God,
because He is my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him in
peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help,
with ways that were my own.
At last, I snatched it back again and cried,
“How can you be so slow?”
“My child” He said, “What could I do?
You never let it go.”
We must learn to let go, only God can control things in a way that will make them work out perfectly with His plan.
Hands part 3
I recently wood burned an image of Jesus’s hand. The artist I used to copy had drawn His hand as a carpenter’s hands would be. Strong and rough with little lines that could be cuts or could be cracking from the work, and in the center of that hand was a big, black hole. A nail hole.
I can’t help but think of the hands of the men I care about when I think of Jesus’s hands. They are the hands I have held to compare to. It’s easy for me to imagine that His hands are rough and strong and perhaps have sand or wood shavings on them. It’s easy for me to see them as hands where I could hold on and swing my feet off the ground and they wouldn’t drop me. But those are in the good times. When bad times hit it is too easy to take our eyes off of Jesus and feel like He has let go of our hand. But in truth, we have let go of His. He will never let us go.
Those hands were pierced for us.
Hands part 2
Mark 12:36 referenced King David when David said that Lord spoke to Him, promising to keep Him at His right hand.
God often spoke of being at His right hand.
In this train of thought I looked up the importance of the right hand man. Of course this is not what God was meaning, but it brought a new perspective A website called Monster-work said the best right hand person should be as follows:
When searching for this key figure, consider the following: Trustworthiness: Look for someone with a proven track record of reliability. Complementary Skills: Your ally should possess strengths that enhance your own. Diversity of Thought: He/she should bring new ideas and perspectives.
This is very much what having God at OUR right hand is like, that is very different from being at His right hand but we will cover that in a second. God is always reliable! He is 100% trustworthy. He uses our strengths to bless His kingdom and His uses His power to bless us. He often shows us a perspective different from our own. And best of all, He is always on our side.
Now. Being at GOD’S right hand means that you are in place of honor. If God is defending you with His right hand, then He has placed you in a place of importance to Him. God’s right hand is often a metaphor for God’s power as well, He will say “I will strike them down with my right hand” < Paraphrased >
His right hand is both safe to those who love Him and dangerous to those who don’t.
Thankfully, we as His children are shielded by His powerful right hand.
Hands part 1
Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s handiwork!
Think on that for a moment. We are God’s handiwork. Handiwork is defined as something someone made- a synonym for Handiwork is handcrafted, which of course means skillfully made. This makes me think of the fearfully and wonderfully made verse. We were made with skill by hand, by God’s hands. He put us together piece by piece, ion by ion, chemical by chemical until at last we were His perfect creation.
Whenever we receive a gift that is hand made we smile a little more because of the effort that went into it, the love and time needed to keep create it. God gave is the handmade gift of ourselves, we are special and unique and put together with effort and love.
Are you hurting? Turn to Jesus
Sometimes you are hurting but don’t notice it because you are busy carrying all the burdens. Take a moment and breathe and connect with your feelings. Then take those feelings and turn them over to God. When everyone is relying on you it’s easy to feel like you have to keep a brave face and hold on. But God. God never called you to be strong in yourself, He called you to be strong through Him. Take your pain, anger, fear and sorrow and place it all in His hands, then walk away. I don’t mean stop praying about it, I mean stop holding onto it like it’s your burden to hold. His yoke is easy remember? His burden is light. He is not going to give you a bunch of stuff to deal with and then walk away. God will carry you. Trust Him.
He knows
He knows
Those battles you fight. Those problems and pains you go through that you tell no one about. Those needs, fears, desires, fallings, sicknesses, screams in the back of your mind, dark pits that circle, boxes you can’t climb out of, endless nights, days that won’t go away. All of it. Jesus is there. You may tell no one. You may never ask for help or sympathy, but He knows. It’s the moment when you feel you have been fighting alone all night long and you suddenly feel an arm around you. You look and see no one, then you realize, it’s Jesus. Those days when you felt like no one could hear or see you, but He hears and sees you. You feel like you scream alone, but He holds your hand and screams with you until your screaming is done and you feel like you will make it. He will make it so you can make it. You fall, but never hit bottom because He catches you.
No matter what. Jesus is there. In all my circumstances- But God.
God’s love is more than a chemical reaction
Happy Valentine’s day!
God’s love is more than a chemical reaction. His love is more than what our minds can comprehend. You can’t synthesize it in a lab, you can’t inject it into your veins, you can’t rewrite it, you can’t change it, you can’t edit it. God’s love is so great that He permits us to come to Him as we are and then He changes us into who He knows we can be. Like a butterfly coming as worm only to be changed into the favorite of all bugs, we come to Jesus as nothing and He makes us all we can be.
Carried in the cross 