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WASHING THE SAINT'S FEET

"Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.  And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself.  After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded." (John 13:1-5).   This act of our Lord's was meant to be much more than merely an example of humility for His disciples.  Jesus was not just proving to them that He wasn't afraid to get His hands dirty.  No, this was something far beyond that.  There was a more elemental lesson that the Lord neede...
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ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED

In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul expresses an important principle about acceptance.  He tells us, " He [God] hath made us accepted in the Beloved [Jesus] ." (Ephesians 1:6).   We all crave acceptance in our lives.  We want to be accepted by our parents, our boss, our co-workers, our friends, our classmates, our fellow church members, our spouses, or the world in general.  The approval that we seek, however, is all based on our own efforts and accomplishments; and the measure that we use is someone else's expectation of us, and not God's.  Instead of allowing ourselves to be transformed into the image of our Lord and Savior, we become conformed to what others (or the world in general) thinks we should be, and it is all based on our own merits and not Christ’s.  There are also those who, no matter how hard one tries, can never be pleased.   Later on in his letter, Paul makes a distinction between being men-pleasers and doing the ...
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ALL THINGS THAT EVER I DID

The fourth chapter of St. John tells the wonderful story of Jesus' meeting with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.  Jesus said many things to this woman while they talked.  He told her that He was a well of water that would spring up into everlasting life; that she should not follow mere traditions but, instead, worship the Father in spirit and in truth; and that He was indeed the Messiah.  Of all the things that He told her, though, one thing was most impressive to her, and it was this one thing that she used to convince the others in her city to go out to see Jesus.  She told them, " Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (John 4:29).  The fact that the Lord knew her so well - all the good, and all the bad - and yet He still loved her and wanted her to know Him in spirit and truth is something that we all should take to heart.  Many of the Samaritans became believers because of her testimony, and many more be...
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