Best I'll Ever Be

I attended a membership class at church the other day. Part of our time was spent in discussion groups where we were asked to say the best advice we had ever received. I said I had two - one from my mom and one from my dad. Coincidentally, both are biblical, which actually took me a long time to realize. My mom always reminds me to treat others the way you would want to be treated (#1) whereas my dad has countless times told me that he has never said anything out of anger that he didn't later regret (#2).

Out of all of the things my parents have individually and collectively taught me over the years, these are the #1 things that have stuck out to me from each of them. Whether or not that is what they would choose for me to remember, I am not sure. But much is to be said for both tidbits of wisdom. Too often I have spoken out of anger and later regretted it. Many, many times I have held my tongue in silence and later praised the Lord for His mercy in granting me a filter allowing comments to be kept to myself. I could give plenty of examples, but what I really want to talk about is the advice my mom has passed along....The Golden Rule.

The picture at the top of this post is of Jesus at the Last Supper. I was looking specifically for one of Him washing the disciples feet, but this was the best I could find. (Anyone looking to buy me a Christmas present??) The extreme significance of Him washing the disciples' feet is amazing to me and I feel I have only begun to tap into the truth behind the Heart of Jesus in this act of servanthood. At the Last Supper, Jesus knew his time had come. Not only that, he knew who would betray him and that the betrayal would end with much suffering. Yet he took on the very lowest form of a servant and washed his disciples' feet. One by one, he kneeled at their feet, cleansed them with water, then dried them with a towel. In John's account, it sets the scene by saying, "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love." Amazing.

"He now showed them the full extent of his love."

The greatest act of love Jesus showed his disciples was to kneel before them and act as a servant to them. (It can be argued that Jesus's death on the cross was not out of love for us, but rather out of love for God....but that's probably another day's topic.) To place himself, essentially, at the bottom of the food chain and to treat them as royalty. The King of all creation washing stinky, dirty, nasty, grangy, mangly, sweaty, warty, calloused feet. In the stillness of that night, he knew that Judas would trade him for death, yet out of love and devotion to a friend who did absolutely nothing to deserve it, Jesus served him too.

I mean, really, this blows me away.

And I have much more commentary on it but I may save it for a later date in time because I want you to really think about the significance of this passage. I will let this be a time where I hold my tongue so that you may listen to the Lord's thoughts on the passage, not mine. ¡Toda la alabanza al dios para su amor que nunca falla!

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. - Ephesians 5:1-2