John 13.

I was reading John chapter 13 this morning, and a couple of things really stuck out to me. The first thing is a purely personal observation ~ consider this my theological disclaimer if this is not in fact what the text is saying. :-)

In the first part of this chapter, Jesus washes the disciples' feet. But in verse three, as he's preparing to do so, I saw something I hadn't noticed before. "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God." The very next verse, he gets up from the table and begins washing their feet.

Why does this seemingly unrelated verse directly precede him humbling himself as the lowest of servants and washing the feet of the men who followed him? It just struck me this morning. How can I humble myself, so that I don't need recognition and admiration from the world? Like Jesus, I must know where I come from, whose I am, and where I am going. My identity is in Christ. My sense of self-worth is found in him, not in those around me. And that is how I can humble myself with complete disregard to my social status or appearance in the eyes of others. I can be invisible to the world, knowing that Christ sees me.

Well, that was longer than I intended, so I guess I'll just stick to the one observation for today. It's enough for me to work on for the rest of my life, I think. :-) I hope each of you has a wonderful day.