The Servant King

• Printable Version - Share on Facebook - Posted by Dion Todd December 30, 2015 - Filed in Devotional - 10,655 views
  So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call me, 'Teacher' and 'Lord.' You say so correctly, for so I am.If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.' John 13:12 WEB
  
  During the time that Jesus lived on earth, when you were invited to dine at someone's house, you bathed before going. But as you traveled to their house, your feet would become dirty again from the dusty roads.
  
  It was customary that a servant would wash your feet on arrival to freshen you up. They did not permit Jewish servants to perform this lowly service. It was reserved for gentile servants or slaves.
  
  When Jesus and the disciples came into the upper room, the servant was missing. All the disciples knew what needed to be done, but not one of them offered to do it because they had just been arguing over which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24). They all felt that 'I am not about to wash his feet, he can wash mine.'
  
  Jesus knelt before each of them and washed their feet just as a gentile slave would have, when they should have scrambled to wash His. Other than Peter's outburst, it appears that the entire washing happened in embarrassed silence. Then He asked them 'Do you know what I have done to you?' and got more silence.
  
  Jesus told them 'You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so.' His humble act of serving them had not diminished His greatness. He was still Lord, just different from what even they expected.
  
  Jesus demonstrated that the greatest among them, needed to be ready to perform humble service for the least when necessary. 'The greatest among you will be your servant.'
  
  Humility does not diminish who you are, it perfects it. I can tell of so many times where God gave me a choice between humbly serving, or arrogantly ignoring. The times when I chose to humbly serve, I was soon promoted somehow in my life. The month before the Lord pushed me into becoming a pastor, I scrubbed all the toilets in our church because that day, the servant was missing.
  
  'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time' (1 Peter 5:5'6).
  
  When an opportunity appears in your life where there is something that needs to be done but the servant is missing, lay aside your garment of pride and become the servant. Do it with joy and energy as if you were working directly for the Lord, for the greatest among you will be your servant.
  
  Prayer: Father thank You for sending Jesus as an example for us and help me to grow more and more like Him. Help me recognize divine opportunities that arise in my life, and make the right choice. Let me be Your servant, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.