The Highest
“If I then, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also ought to do as I did.” John 13:14-15
After years of following Jesus the disciples were ready for the last “object lesson” that Jesus would give before going to the cross. You might think that the last teachingf of Jesus would be about tithing or devotion to God and those would be a good guess because Jesus spent a lot of time talking about giving to God, and He said that the greatest command was to love God more than anything. While tithing and Godly devotion would be good guesses they would also be wrong guesses. The last lesson that Jesus taught His disciples was about serving one another.
When I was in college I got a first hand glimpse of how the disciples might’ve felt as Jesus served them. In 1993 I had just come home from my first mission trip, and I felt like a great person. I had devoted my time to sharing the Gospel. I felt like a “big man” for God, but then something happened that year in college that made me realize if I wanted to be a “big man” for God I must become a servant to others. A “small man” in the eyes of the world.
I went with my friends to the Baptist Student Union Fall convention, and the Saturday while we were there everyone wanted to go eat lunch outside because it was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, it had rained the day before and the field was muddy. If you don’t know. I’m handicapped and in a wheelchair. Well, we all went out there and ate in the grass and had a good time laughing. When we came back in though my shoes and my wheelchair tires were covered in wet grass and mud. The BSU Campus Minister intern, David Kirkland, did something that I will never forget. He got some napkins and he bent in front of me and he wiped off my shoes and my tires. I was astonished by this servitude that he showed. He did not make a big production out of it. He simply did it.
Our service to other people no matter how big or small it may seem if done with the attitude of glorifying God will always change other people not because of what we do, but because of what God does when we obey Him.
Jesus taught His disciples(and us) in what most people know as the Golden Rule(Luke 6:31) that we should treat other people the way that we like to be treated. All of us enjoy being served, but most of the time we think it’s degrading to serve others. In reality serving other people in the name of Christ is the highest purpose you can have.
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Father, I thank You for showing me through the life, death and resurrection of Your Son that service to others is the highest purpose I can reach, and I ask that You would show me ways that I can serve others to bring You glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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The image above can be found at:
Yes, You Can Ministry 
Steve you are serving others.
Thank-you!!!
You do so everytime you write and post.
I am so grateful that you do!