Go with me back to when Jesus was here as a man. Get a picture of Him in your mind. Think of Him teaching in the temple. Or spending time with children. Or talking to the woman at the well. Can you see Him in your mind’s eye?
It seems that Jesus was always on the lookout for how He could care for people. He looked into the eyes of the woman caught in adultery . . . and ministered love to her. He listened to the words of the centurion, whose faith He admired, and cleared the way for a miracle healing. He soaked in the love and honor paid to Him by the woman with the alabaster box as she wet his feet with her tears and then she wiped them with her hair.
When I think of our Lord and the way He loves and serves, I am humbled. His compassion is always at the ready. His love is always present. And His service to our Father and to others is always a priority. Even just before He went to the cross, Jesus served those around Him.
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. John 13:1-5 NLT
My heart swells with adoration and awe as I think of Jesus kneeling at the feet of each of the disciples and washing their feet and then drying them with the towel. He knew the sacrifice that was before Him, yet He chose to serve in such a lowly and humble act.
This is the heart of our Lord Jesus. This is the heart in whose image you are I are made. And this is an example to us about how we shape our lives and the priorities we establish.
The amazing benefit of serving others is that we receive joy. We receive blessing. We receive peace. And we can take on the discipline of serving others in the way Jesus demonstrated to us:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
How will we follow this model and humbly serve others? That’s a choice each of us can make.
What I know for sure is that when we serve others with love, grace, and care we also serve the Lord. We don’t want to serve with any strings attached. Instead, we open our hearts and do the very best we can to fulfill the call of serving others that the Lord has put on our lives. Jesus said, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.” Yet, we don’t give so we will receive. If that’s the case, the reward is already received from our flesh.
Rather, we want to give with a heart abandoned to service. That’s how the love of God can manifest in us and multiply the charity that flows through us to those who need care.
Jesus served every day. And we can do the same. It doesn’t mean that we spend our days volunteering at the soup kitchen or at the church. Instead, it means serving those we encounter by being friendly. By giving love. By being present to those around us and caring. And sometimes we are called to humble ourselves, and care for others just like Jesus did when He washed the dusty and grimy feet of the disciples right before He went to the cross.
Please share your thoughts below. I know that I and other readers find the sharing very moving as we hear from the hearts of women and men in the faith. Remember, we are a community of believers coming together in love.