“A lifestyle of serving and loving is when we are most like Jesus!”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – December 13, 2023
Jesus rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:4-5, ESV
Since His hour had come, Jesus’ prayer was the invocation at the Last Supper with His intimate followers, His disciples. As Jesus takes the towel of a servant and washes their feet, He shows them how to love by serving. Our modern-day equivalent could be serving others a meal in our home or washing dishes afterward. It is the idea of service to others above our immediate needs. Not to be served but to serve, as Jesus, early in His ministry, defined His way of life. Reminds me of when my new friend David shined my shoes when I met him at his office for the first time. This was his application of Jesus’ foot washing. To my utter amazement, he explained, “Boyd, 19 out of 20 people who meet with me, I turn down their request for funding, but I still want to bless them by serving them like Jesus.” Wow, how David served me by reminding me how to be like Jesus to strangers and friends alike. Christ-centered living looks for ways to out-serve others.
As followers of Jesus, we can bless others by serving them in unexpected ways. A kind word, a private prayer, a genuine public affirmation, a handwritten note, or our total attention in our conversations. In Jesus’ greatest time of need, He chose to meet the needs of others. God blesses those around us as we serve them with our others first attitude and selfless actions.
During His lifetime, Jesus gave His life away in love for others, and now, facing His death on the cross, He was giving the greatest gift of His life to others. Jesus loved by giving. Generosity was His love strategy. “LOVE GIVES!” Indeed, loving Jesus followers are on the lookout to invest their time, talent, and treasures for the benefit of their family and team and to bless other divine encounters. Generosity is the language of lovers of God. The Holy Spirit longs for us to become fluent in generosity. As we, as loving Jesus followers, receive the Spirit’s gifts, we are compelled by love and gratitude to give generously. Certainly, we need to have our own method of giving (etc., Donor Advised Fund) to model generosity with our resources. Or the Lord may lead us to take our team or family on a mission trip or help with a local service project. Volunteering at church or in our community could be an easy first step. Love gives to help others truly live!
One area I struggle with is giving up myself for another without expecting anything in return. Not expecting a thank you or an atta-boy. Some of you are like me; you are encouragers…and encouragers like to be encouraged. But when I serve and love like Jesus, I learn not to need anything in return. When divine love engulfs and empowers our lives, our gifts are freely given with no expectations attached. A lifestyle of serving and loving is when we are most like Jesus!
I’ll leave you with this benediction Jesus prayed for us:
“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:20-26).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, empower me by your Spirit to serve and love like your Son through Christ’s love and in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Application
Consider opening a giving fund to be more intentional and tax-efficient in your generosity.
Related Reading
Matthew 20:28, 23:11; John 13:24, Ephesians 4:32; 1 Timothy 5:8
Worship Resource
Hillsong Worship: Remembrance
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