“….I am among you as he that serveth.–” Luke 22:27

“He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. ” John 13:4-5

Serving is not an easy lesson to learn. But it is a lesson we must learn—if ever we would become like our Master. He did not come to be served—but to serve. He served to the uttermost, just as He loved to the uttermost. Anything that needed to be done for another, He did as naturally and as simply as He breathed. He loved people, and was interested in them, and was ready always to be helpful to them. It never mattered what the service was, whether it was the saving of a soul, the curing of a grievous sickness, or the giving of a cup of water—He did the least as graciously and as divinely, as the greatest.

The washing of feet was the lowliest service any man could do for another. It was the work of the lowliest slave. Yet Jesus without hesitation, did this service for His own disciples. Thus He taught them that nothing anyone may ever need to have done—is unfit for the whitest hands. We begin to be like Christ—only when we begin to love others enough to serve them.

There is no surer test of the genuineness of Christian life, than in this matter of serving others. When we see the Son of God washing His disciples’ feet—no service is too menial for us to do. A king may do the lowliest kindness to the poorest peasant in his realm, and his honor will only be enhanced by it.—J. R. Miller

“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. “ John 13:14

“I know how to abound.”–Philippians 4:12

There are many who know “how to be abased” who have not learned “how to abound.” When they are set upon the top of a pinnacle their heads grow dizzy, and they are ready to fall. The Christian far oftener disgraces his profession in prosperity than in adversity. It is a dangerous thing to be prosperous. The crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to the Christian than the refining pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of soul and neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the very mercies and bounties of God! Yet this is not a matter of necessity, for the apostle tells us that he knew how to abound. When he had much he knew how to use it. Abundant grace enabled him to bear abundant prosperity. When he had a full sail he was loaded with much ballast, and so floated safely. It needs more than human skill to carry the brimming cup of mortal joy with a steady hand, yet Paul had learned that skill, for he declares, “In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry.” It is a divine lesson to know how to be full, for the Israelites were full once, but while the flesh was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God came upon them. Many have asked for mercies that they might satisfy their own hearts’ lust. Fulness of bread has often made fulness of blood, and that has brought on wantonness of spirit. When we have much of God’s providential mercies, it often happens that we have but little of God’s grace, and little gratitude for the bounties we have received. We are full and we forget God: satisfied with earth, we are content to do without heaven. Rest assured it is harder to know how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry—so desperate is the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of God. Take care that you ask in your prayers that God would teach you “how to be full.”

“Let not the gifts thy love bestows Estrange our hearts from thee.” –Charles Spurgeon

“If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”–Ephesians 4:21–24

The great pioneer missionary Adoniram Judson suffered enormous hardship and loss during more than thirty years of faithful service in Burma (modern day Myanmar). He buried two wives and numerous children. He was persecuted, imprisoned, and tortured. He labored for more than six years before seeing his first convert. It took him years to translate the Bible into the very difficult Burmese language. Yet Judson did not consider himself to have reached a high level in the Christian life. When someone compared him to the Apostle Paul Judson responded, “I do not want to be like a Paul…or any mere man. I want to be like Christ. I want to follow Him only, copy His teachings, drink in His Spirit, and place my feet in His footprints. Oh, to be more like Christ!”

The world does not need better educated and trained Christians. The world does not need Christians who fit in better and don’t make waves with their beliefs. What it needs is Christians who are less like the world and more like Jesus. The sacrificial life of Christ is the pattern we are meant to follow. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). He is the standard by which we will be measured and evaluated for our service, and He is the example that we are meant to emulate. The more that we focus our efforts on following His steps, the more powerful and effective our lives will be.(Daily in the Word)

“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised“– Psalm 113:3

No matter where you come from, where you live, or where your life may take you, your purpose is the same — to praise the Lord in all you do, say, and think. From the place of the sunrise, to the horizon where it sets, God is worthy of adoration.

And he deserves our honor no matter the time of day or night. When we are commuting to work in the morning, changing diapers during the day, or doing homework at night we are to do all to the glory of our Savior. May never a day pass that we have not done something to consciously advance the fame of Jesus Christ.

But his name is also to be praised at every stage of life. If you are young and energetic, in the “morning” of your life, God is due your obedience and worship. If you are nearing the sunset of your life, then you have an increasingly powerful witness, as God more and more shows his strength in your weakness.

There is no place, no time, no stage in life in which our great concern should not be to bring glory to our Maker and Savior. Will you praise him right now, right here, in this time of your life and in the place that God has uniquely positioned you for his glory? —A Good Thing

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”—1 Cor. 13:13

therefore, it must have the pre-eminent place, and be like the Beloved, the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.
–F. E. Marsh