Devotional Song: Go to this link … Please take the time to see a clip of Bill Gaither’s chorus in the Holy Land, singing the classic old hymn, My Faith Looks Up To Thee, which points us toward the humility we must capture to be wholly God’s disciples. … And THEN TO THIS LINK to see a brief depiction of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples, modeling the humility we need to live out in our lives as He instructed His disciples in the upper room.
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Highlight Passage: Philippians 2: 5, … 8 … [NKJV] … Being like Jesus!! …
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus … 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
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Highlight Context - NKJV: Philippians 2: 5-11 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1: John 13: 1-16 [NKJV] … GO TO THIS LINK … … Jesus humbles Himself to wash the feet of His disciples …
Reference Passage #2: Matthew 11: 29 … [NKJV] … Jesus describes Himself as “gentle” (i.e., meek) and “lowly in heart” (i.e., humble), which is the only self description of character in the NT where Jesus describes Himself …
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Reference Passage #3: 1st Peter 5: 5-7 … [NKJV] … … Peter preaches what he learned from Jesus about humility …
5 Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” [Quoting Prov. 3: 34] … 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Bill Crowder, took me back to on of the most poignant lessons that Jesus ever taught His disciples; and that was the powerful foot washing scene in the upper room just before Jesus was to humble Himself completely, going to the Cross for mankind.
And Jesus in that foot washing scenario, if you go to the link above with a brief video reenactment of that scene, Jesus told His disciples [found in John 13: 1-16] that one day eleven of these twelve would understand His example and they would live out that model of humility as they served others and witnessed their Savior’s love to the world. And in this brief lesson, we see the essence of what our attitude, as Christ’s disciples, should be in fulfillment of that which Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi [see Phil. 2: 5-11 linked above].
My friends, as it says in Phil. 2: 5, we are to have the same attitude and character traits as that of our Lord. And what were these? Well, the best place to find the character description of the attitude we should emulate in Christ is to look to His own self-description; and that can be found in only way verse in the NT, … that of Matthew 11: 29, copied above. And Jesus called Himself, in the Greek, “praos” or gentle/meek … and “tapienos” or humble. And if that’s the way Jesus described Himself, if we’re to become like Him, then trying to live out the character traits of gentleness and humility is a good place to start.
So, as Jesus taught His disciples with the object lesson of washing their feet, … are we being like Jesus in our lives? Out there in the world, are we doing all we can to be like Jesus, and humbly serving others in some way? … Are we being humble and meek just as Jesus described Himself?
I don’t know about you; but I could do better in my life, trying to be more like Jesus describe Himself. So, my friends, … today I need to go out and wash some feet?
My Prayer for Today … Lord, let me wash some feet today just as You have washed mine every day of my life since I came to know You as Lord. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread [TGIF], distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you’ll find a link to read the Our Daily Bread blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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