Ministering: Assistant Pastor Wole Olubajo.
Text: John 13:12-15.
“12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? 13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” KJV.
As a rule, God never demands anything He hasn’t first provided. Whatever He requests from man, He already made available. Christianity is Christ doing to us what we are to do to others. Christ is to us what we should be to others. He does for us what we should for others. The Lord never asks us to do more than He has done for us.
If I then, Your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. It is the living experience of Christ in us that empowers us to act like Him. He is to me what I should be to others. I can only do to others what He is doing to me. He loves me so that I may love others. He blesses me that I may bless others. He forgives me so that I may forgive others. He is merciful to me and I will be merciful to others.
Christianity is us repeating to others what the Lord is to us. He Saves me so that I may be a medium of salvation for others. He lives to intercede for me that I may live to intercede for others. He Serves me that I may serve others. As someone rightly said, service is the rent we pay to maintain our existence on earth greatness in the kingdom is a result of service to others. He gives Himself wholly to me, that I may wholly give myself for the course of humanity. He laid down His Life for me that I may lay down my Life for the brethren. I am only expected to be doing to others what He is doing to me – nothing more. I am indebted to be doing it, just because He is doing it to me.
What I do is nothing but repeating, the showing forth of what I am receiving from Him. Numbers 10:3. That what Goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same we will do unto them. Matt. 18:21-35; 2 Cor. 5:14-15, Matt. 6:12.
Many times what we are getting from God is a reflection of what we are doing to us. He makes Himself available to me continually, so that I may make myself available to help others continually. His words to me are seasoned with Grace and my words to others are also seasoned with Grace. He is patient with me and I may be patient with others. He nourishes me so that I may nourish others. As our example, He does for us what we ought to do for others. We are to reciprocate to others what He does to us. His thoughts toward me are peaceful and not evil, my thoughts toward others are peaceful and not evil. He bears with me in long-suffering that I may bear with others in long-suffering.
What He accomplished for us by His death, He makes real for us by His Life in us. It is because He is The one doing it in me that it is possible for me to do the same to others. First He does to us what He wants to do through us to others.
Christianity is the outward manifestation of the doings of the indwelling Christ. It is His continuous inflowing that determines the outflowing from our lives. Pray for others the way I pray unceasingly for you. He blesses me that I may bless others.
God Bless You!
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