"Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.
When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus replied, "You don't understand now what I am doing, but someday you will."
"No," Peter protested, "you will never wash my feet!"
Jesus replied, "Unless I wash you, you won't belong to me."
Simon Peter exclaimed, "Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!"
Jesus replied, "A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you." For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, "Not all of you are clean."
After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, "Do you understand what I was doing? You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because that's what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them."" (John 13:1-17 NLT)
There are days when we all must take some time to evaluate where we are on the humility meter; as in, reflecting on how you treat and react to the people around you. Do you treat those that are under you differently than those above you? Do you respect those that might have stature, but negate those that are of little importance?
There are so many different ways to separate people and place some above others; but we are all the same, in the eyes of God. Which brings us back to what we left off with yesterday. God does not change, nor does He one person above another! If you might think that He does, His ways are so much higher than our ways; and His thoughts are way above anything we can imagine. (Paraphrased, in case you thought otherwise.)
If you are interested in what I might think, or not, I am going to say it anyway, regardless. God knows every one of us, better than we know ourselves, which means, He knows your rising up, as well as your lying down! In case you don't know what that means, it has several different meanings: to rise up in the morning and lay down at night; to rise up in stature and lay down in humility. But the one I believe matters most, is that He knows the very beginning of your existence, from before you were even formed in your mother's womb, to the time when you will be laid in the ground.
Therefore, He knows everything you will or will not do, through your entire existence! So, there is a difference between respecting one person over another, and knowing who it is that will obey Him and who it is that will not even listen.
Yesterday, not surprisingly, I got to hear a message from Pastor McGee, as he was sharing about God's wonderful mercy towards the wicked. He shared how Hezekiah was a King that was closest to King David, in that he was godly and restored the kingdom to following God, destroying all of their places of idol worship. And then came Manasseh, who was the most wicked King, yet he ruled fifty-five years, even though he was so wicked.
But God, rich in mercy, had Manasseh taken from Judah, and held captive in Babylon. Which caused him to humble himself before the LORD his God. Then God returned back to Jerusalem, where he went to work, undoing almost everything wicked he had done. "So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house"...
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." (James 4:10 KJV)
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