This morning's waking thoughts were not, "Good morning, Lord". Momentarily, my thoughts retraced some places I had been in my past: inclinations that could sneak up behind me (or inside me) unless I go straight to the Lord. I can agree with His Spirit within me:"This is not how I want to start my day, or spend my day, Lord. Redirect my soul, cleanse me, and bring my thoughts right now back to You, and back to what You've planned for me today "
As I got up, and kissed my wife, and sat down for coffee, I was praying about new directions in my own morning Bible study too. I soon plan to teach and preach from the gospel of John and for some reason my mind went immediately to the story in John 13, where Jesus washes his disciples' feet.
Not to do a whole Bible study here... but the insight is that Jesus showed his disciples something. Nobody hates sin's defilement the way He does. And on the night he washed their feet, he knew that he was about to take the whole world's sins upon himself. Yes, he came for that reason. He taught the holy apostles that they too still needed some cleansing and that they too were to join him in serving people whose lives had gotten covered with gritty reality and dirt.
Ah, my Baptist brethren. We can preach how the Good Samaritan bound up a poor man's wounds, and still pour salt into the wounds of a man or woman's broken heart. On better days we're in touch with our own need for cleansing. All sin grieves the Lord, including the sin of imagining that we can afford to hold contempt for those who have spiritually muddied their feet. Scripture has no sympathy for wallowing in the mire, but we do see Jesus taking the towel to the souls of his disciples as well as to their feet.
There's a television show about the dirtiest jobs. I don't watch the show, but I doubt it has ever dealt with spiritual counseling and the job of simply being a follower of Jesus, willing to love others and help them get clean. "Simon, unless I wash your feet. You have no part with me."
"Then, Lord, not just my feet. Wash me completely!"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment