Day Seventeen: Worship God Through Our Love for One Another
John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
What is it that separates us from the rest of the world? It’s our love for one another. Or at least it should be. Sometimes I don’t think this is our greatest attribute as Christians and yet Jesus says, THIS is how they will know that you are my disciples. If I could stress anything throughout these devotions about worship it’s this: worship is less about the songs we sing and more about the way we live our lives. If songs are the expression of our heart towards God, then how we live our lives is the demonstration of that faith put into practice.
I think a great biblical illustration of this love is found in John 13 when Jesus washes the disciple’s feet. Now, I know we all know this story and how menial the act of washing feet was—a task set aside only for those lowest on the hierarchy totem pole. However, I want to look more at the response of Peter because I feel it demonstrates how we ourselves normally respond. Jesus, knowing his time was drawing near, loved his own and so wanted to demonstrate the full extent of that love (vs.1). So taking on the responsibilities of a servant, Jesus gets up from the meal and began to wash the feet of the disciples (vs.4-5). The King and creator of all creation became a servant to his creation. Think about the love demonstrated here. He made himself nothing, “taking the very nature of a servant… he humbled himself” (Philippians 2:7-8).
First, by becoming his creation and second, by doing the lowest of tasks performed by a servant to men which makes Peter’s response all the more poignant. Notice that Peter never says, “I’ll do that” because I believe Peter was acting on false humility whereas Jesus was acting out of sincere humility. I think Peter still believed, “that’s beneath you and me both.” Our love must extend beyond the appearance of loving and actually to a willingness to lower ourselves to show we value others above ourselves. Jesus’ ultimate demonstration of humility would soon be his death on the cross—the death only prescribed for criminals.
Reading: John 13:1-17; Philippians 2:1-11; Galatians 5:14