GraceCreates

By Jon Walker

“All of you, serve each other in humility, for God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 NLT)

Serving others requires forgetfulness on your part: You need to forget your own needs.

You cannot be self-centered and serve the real needs of another person. “Don’t be selfish …,” Paul says in Philippians 2:3, “Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.” (NLT)

Jesus gave his disciples an example of this humility when he stooped to wash their feet: “So during the meal Jesus stood up and took off his outer clothing. Taking a towel, he wrapped it around his waist. Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the followers’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (John 13:4-5 NCV)

Foot-washing was customary back then (not just for pedicures!) because people wore sandals or walked barefoot on dusty roads. Usually a host had his servants do the dirty chore, but Jesus saved this service for himself, “taking the very nature of a servant ….” (Philippians 2:7 NIV)

It is interesting to note that the disciples hadn’t already taken care of the dirty feet, not even slipping into a self-service scrub. Could it be they considered this task beneath their dignity?

But it wasn’t beneath Jesus.

He placed his disciples’ needs above his own – even as he approached his darkest hour.

What does this mean?

• The forgetful servant – The life of a servant requires a kind of forgetfulness, the ability to forget our own needs in the process of tending to someone else’s. “We should please others. If we do what helps them, we will build them up in the Lord. For even Christ didn’t please himself.” (Romans 15:2-3 NLT) Look to the needs of others, and trust God to supply your own needs. (Philippians 4:19)
• Live well for others – “We want to live well,” Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:24, “but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.” (MSG) Everyone we serve is someone important to serve.
• Do what Jesus does – “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:14 NIV) How would this change your marriage (or some other family), if you began to serve another person before you considered your own needs?

Jon Walker is the teaching pastor for “The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals,” and resident writer at www.GraceCreates.com. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had – though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave ….” (Philippians 2:5-7  NLT)

Cooperation is doing with a smile what you have to do anyway.  You’ll never find that sentence in the Bible, but I think its spirit is implied throughout God’s Word.  We are called to be obedient to God’s commands, and part of that obedience is having a sensitive servant’s attitude.

I learned this lesson years ago when I was working for someone, who at the time, I didn’t respect.  I would do whatever he asked me to do – eventually – but I tended to drag my feet, complain, or point out how wrong he was.

God used that relationship to teach me godly obedience. Through his Word, God taught me to obey my earthly authorities. He showed me that Christ-like character required me to work with the same servant’s attitude, regardless of how I felt about my work environment or my employer.

God not only changed my attitude, he led me to seek forgiveness from my boss for my disrespectful attitude.  It was a major turning point in my life, as I came to understand what it meant to be a man under authority, regardless of who was in authority.

God can work through a boss who is a model of godliness, and he can work through a boss who is a tyrant. No matter who we work for, ultimately, God is our authority, so in any situation we should work as unto the Lord.

And you know what? As I responded to God’s authority through my earthly employer, I developed considerable respect for my boss, and he became one of my greatest mentors and supporters.  Though not a believer, he taught me, “Cooperation is doing with a smile what you have to do anyway.” 

What does this mean?

• Live the Gospel – How you conduct yourself at work is part of your Christian witness.  Today, go beyond the minimum requirements and see how those around you respond. To quote Francis of Assisi: “Share the gospel; if necessary, use words.”
• Change your attitude – Be respectful, helpful, and gracious to those in authority over you – no matter how difficult it may be. 
• Go the extra mile with a smile – Christ said, “If someone compels you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two.” People are more likely to listen to what you say when your actions show respect and concern for them, when you do more than the minimum required.
• Hey, God, a little help! – Ask God to turn those tough situations at work into opportunities to share the Gospel – but check your own attitude first.

Jon Walker is the teaching pastor for “The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals,” and resident writer at www.GraceCreates.com. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

All of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. (1 Peter 3:8 NLT)

God enables us to love the fear out of one another.

We drive fear from our families and friends by loving one another so supportively that every one feels safe inside the group. (1 John 4:18) This safety allows us to bring our humanity into the open, including all our pain and joy, our ups and downs, our victories and defeats.

It means you give to others the same uncommon safety Christ gives you – to be real, to be sad, to be messed up and confused, yet to be loved.

God challenges us to create a Christ-community where we love like our lives depend upon it (1 Peter 1:22) and can each “live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)

We’re to weep together and celebrate together, caring for each other equally (1 Corinthians 12:25-26) as we comfort and confront, warm and warn, cherish and challenge, within an atmosphere of supportive safety.

Loving the fear out of each other requires that we develop:

Tender hearts – We give support to each other because God gives us support, and we’re to encourage others with the encouragement we receive from him. (2 Corinthians 1:4) In the New Testament, the word ‘support’ can literally mean “to increase one another’s potential.” (Romans 14:19 NJB) We strengthen one another by extending love, instead of fostering fear, and we do that by offering relationships that are safe and sympathetic.

Humble minds –True humility focuses on the worth of others. We understand our value in Christ, and we understand that God shapes each of us for a unique purpose.

Godly eyes – Loving the fear out of our family and friends – in fact, loving the fear out of the world – means we see others for what they can be, not for what they appear to be now. Jesus called Peter a rock when the fisherman was still acting on impulse (Matt. 16:18), and God called Gideon a mighty man of courage when he was hiding from the enemy among piles of grain. (Judges 6:11-12) God calls us to encourage and affirm each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11), seeing those around us in terms of their purpose and mission in life.

What does this mean?

• God enables us to love the fear out of one another. You can love the fear out of others, and you can allow the fear to be loved out of you.
• We exhibit tender hearts when we say to one another:

It’s OK to have a bad day.
It’s OK to be tired.
It’s OK to admit your mistakes.
It’s OK to say your marriage is failing.
It’s OK to confess your addiction.
It’s OK to share you’re scared.
It’s OK to want a day away from your toddler.
It’s OK to grieve a loss.
It’s OK to doubt, to be confused, to cry.

• We exhibit humble minds when we say to one another:

It’s OK to be happy you got a new car.
It’s OK to celebrate that you got a huge raise.
It’s OK to joyfully tell us you lost 17 pounds.
It’s OK to say you won the sales competition.
It’s OK to shout “Hallelujah!” because God’s presence in your life is so good.
It’s OK to tell us these things because we will be as happy for you as if these blessings had come to us, and we will join you in hearty celebration.

Jon Walker is the teaching pastor for “The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals,” and resident writer at www.GraceCreates.com. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.

By Jon Walker

“So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now!” (2 Corinthians 5:16 NLT)

“Send picture first, then I’ll reply” – It’s a pretty common message in the personal ads, and in this age of alienation and e-community, it makes a lot of sense to exercise care and caution in any relationship with a new person.

But let me ask this question: When it comes to real love – real as opposed to some fantasy-romantic love – do you find yourself saying, “Send picture first?”

We may say it in different ways. For instance, we may say, think, or judge: “I have to see if you’re good enough.” “I’m not sure you’re worthy of my love.” “You need to act the way I expect before I’ll love you.”

And we don’t do that just with strangers who cross our path. We often make these judgments about the people closest to us, our loved ones.

In our walk with Christ, the apostle Paul instructs us to stop judging people according to the flesh (2 Corinthians 5), which is a King Jamesion way of saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover or people by appearances.” To paraphrase Paul: “We don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new ….” (2 Corinthians 5:16b-17a MSG)

Now, let me ask you a pointed question, one I’m also asking myself today: When it comes to loving God, do you find yourself saying, “Send picture first?”

My own answer to that is “Ouch!”

Yet, God in his grace did send a picture first – the picture of Jesus, his body broken and stretched out on the cross, dying for your sins. Even as we had yet to send our picture, God sent his picture first. That’s my paraphrase of Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (NIV)

The thing is, while we’re actively engaged in a passive love – saying, “You send your picture first” – God already is setting a place for you at the banquet table. We’re sticking a toe in the water to see if it is warm enough to risk rejection. Yet God in his grace invites us to the wedding feast, where we are guaranteed to be accepted among his beloved.

What does this mean?

• God takes the initiative – God is reaching out to you, and he’s already provided the means for you to come into a close, lasting relationship with him. The king invites us to a wedding feast in honor of his Son! (Matthew 22)
• What pictures are you sending? – When you are timid or uncertain in seeking or responding to God, you are passively saying, “You go first, God. Send me a picture of what this looks like before I decide if I’m going to do it.” Are you sending God pictures of disobedience, faith-lessness, lukewarm attitudes, a refusal to accept his grace? “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV)
• What does God look like? – Here’s one likeness of him: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us ….” (1 John 3:16a NIV)

Jon Walker is the teaching pastor for “The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals,” and resident writer at www.GraceCreates.com. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.