“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 also should do just as I have done to you.” John 13:14-15 (ESV)

Poto by Rick Miller

As a parent (or someone who has worked with children), you probably know how VERY important you are in influencing your child’s actions, words and behaviors. I remember when my sister had her first child, she would hear her daughter say things and wonder “Where does she get that from?” Later on she’d catch herself saying the exact words she’d heard her daughter say earlier!! She hadn’t realized that her daughter was simply mimicking the example that she was given!

We, as children of God, have the benefit of having the perfect example to look to and learn from. Not only that, but His examples are recorded in a book so we can go back and study it and learn from them again and again! (It’s called the Bible, in case you didn’t catch that).

Instead of looking to our peers or the culture or the media to get an idea of what actions, words and/or behavior we should live by, we should be looking to the Word of God. John 13:14-15 says “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 also should do just as I have done to you.” I think that you can take out the “washed your feet” part and add a blank line (“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have ___________, you also ought to ______________.”). You could fill in so many other things Jesus did: shown mercy, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, loved the lost, shown grace and compassion, served the undeserving, ate with sinners, loved the children, shown forgiveness, and on and on and on! If our Lord and Teacher has done these things, then we also ought to do these things!!

Jesus was not the type to sit around and see what others could do for Him. He went out and did things Himself! So should we. Don’t just sit in church and wonder what you’re going to be able to TAKE. You need to get out there and do a little GIVING! Opportunities are out there to serve in the church and follow the most excellent example we have been given. But YOU have to take the first step. Get involved.

Cassa Wing