Are You Prepared to Serve?

During Labor Day weekend a couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed a lazy morning in bed. Not having to get up early, my normal devotion time was delayed as I lounged in the bed. Finally arising, I walked around the house taking inventory of what I needed to do on this rare four day weekend. The delayed devotion time turned out to be a mistake as certain events turned my morning into a grumbling session.

When I finally remembered I had not read my devotions for the day, I hurried to my quiet corner, unfortunately with not so quiet thoughts. Struggling to focus my attention on the open bible and devotion, I flipped to the Gospel of John. As I glanced at the devotion title, “The Servant Spirit”, I knew my flesh was about to suffer a well-deserved blow. You see my grumbling session had a lot to do with defining my rights instead of being humble.

Click here to read the full text from John 13:1-17

Mmmmmm…

I began to ponder what I had just read. This was a very familiar passage, but at that moment the words took on a life that reached me beyond the pages. In Hebrews 4:12, it says “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

I was wounded and rightly so I deserved the wound. I needed to be reminded about having a heart of a servant. But this was more than a reminder because you see a certain section of this passage gnawed at me. It was puzzling because it didn’t seem to be important. But the writer, in this case the disciple John, was authorized by God to include it. My focus seemed to be enamored with verse four, which says “so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist”.

The Washing Feet Process

Now being careful not to take anything out of context, I began to think about this task of washing feet. It was a task performed by a servant, the lowest member of the household. It was not by any means an honorable task because it required one to wash probably several pairs of feet that had tracked through the dusty Middle Eastern desert all day long. According to the text, there was probably one water basin used to wash everyone’s feet. By the time the task was completed, the water was probably horridly dirty and smelly.

If you have every spilled liquid on your clothing such as milk, juice or soda, liquid has a tendency to dry and leave an unpleasant odor. So, the fact that Jesus took off his outer clothing and wrapped the towel around his waist makes perfect sense. He didn’t need to ruin his clothing and the towel wrapped around the waist made it easy to dry feet. But it was not the clothing or the towel, that was of interest but it really was about the preparation. You see to be a servant requires some preparation.

Lack of Preparation

Thinking back to my attitude problem earlier, I realized my first mistake was I started my day by not immediately wrapping myself in time with God. Not to say that the temptation would not have occurred, but my mind was clearly not on spiritual matters thus making way for the flesh to rise up.

Thankfully, while I didn’t wrap myself with my daily bread for the day, I still had time to do the right thing. That is to TAKE OFF the wrongful thinking and attitude I acquired. For you see, my complaints were silly and senseless.

Is there something you need to take off such as an attitude, wrongful thinking, excuses, or ego? Have you been wrapped up in your feelings instead of the truth in God’s Word?

“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.” John 13:12

Do you understand God’s work can only take place when we all determine in our hearts to be servants? Did you know, you have been chosen to serve? Be sure dress yourself in the proper attire today.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

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