One On One: 100 Days With Jesus--PASSIONSample

Last Supper: The One who washes feet

Everything good in your life with God comes out of humility. And every step backwards is because of pride.

Jesus noticed the disciples’ tendency towards self-promotion. Who was better. Whose throne was closest to Jesus’. More than locker-room brag, this was ugly pride. Dangerous, even. 

Jesus addressed it with them a couple times, but in the urgency of the late hour decided to show, rather than tell them again. 

Under the loud arguments at the table, the disciples heard water splashing. There was Jesus, His robe off, tying a towel around His waist. With a bowl of water, He knelt beside Matthew and sponged cool water over his ankles. He wiped his foot clean with the towel, then on to the next man, perhaps Phillip, maybe Judas. Then John.

Except for the water, the room was silent. They challenged each other for the throne, but nobody fought over the towel. Far from a profound gesture, this was demeaning work. No one but the lowest servant would ever do it. 

If anyone had a right to be proud, Jesus did. But look at Him there. He could dispatch angels to display His glory, but He didn’t. At His greatest hour, He bent over and washed proud, dirty feet. They wanted to be first. Jesus said, “You before me.” 

Hear that water? Let it remind you that the root of every sin you struggle with is pride. It’s true for us all. We each have our own stories. 

If you want to be done with that pride—and take a step forward in your life in God, do this: get your hands together and cup them like you’re holding water. Envision holding your motives, your dreams, everything that drives you forward. Offer them up to the Lord with a prayer something like this:

Your Word says, Lord, You oppose the proud but give grace to the humble. I’ve experienced enough of my own pride to know I naturally choose it every time. But You would never require something of me You don’t give me the ability to do in Your strength. 

So I choose by faith to stand humbly before You today. Use the challenges and pain of life to soften my hard heart. Teach me how to walk out Your Word, faithfully, quietly, to please You alone. Give me grace to humble myself. I stand accountable to You for every loose thought, every word spoken, every emotion and impulse nurtured. 

Fill me with Your Spirit as I go forward with You. In Jesus’ name and because of His example, amen.

Tomorrow: One on one with Jesus as He meets His disciples