Week 2 Day 5 - It's Time For a Makeover!

Week 2 – It’s Time for A Makeover!

Day 5 – John 13:13-17

¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

I love that we serve a God who loves us so much that He sent His son to dwell among us and be our perfect example.  It shows His mercy and love so clearly.  As a parent, I can assure you, I don’t know that I could ever send any of my children into the darkness to a people that would ultimately kill them, so that they could have the opportunity to see how to better live.  I am far too selfish.  But God loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son (John 3:16) in that exact way.  Amazingly selfless… beyond comprehension! His life and that perfect example has been documented in the Holy Bible, through words inspired by God Himself, for those of us, all these years later, to still know.  As we finish looking at the makeover in our lives to escape chaos and return to peace, the final step we see in Colossians 3:15-17 is that we are to live like Jesus.  One of the greatest examples of this I have ever witnessed was a few years ago when my husband and I were organizing Mexico Mission teams and traveling down to work with some of the poorest people I have ever known.  We worked closely with a couple of men that helped us organize things on the other side of the border.  Both were phenomenal men.  From our very first trip, however, I was overwhelmed with Saule.  He was our translator and the man that lived our mission out every day to those people.  To us, we would go for a week, build, do a VBS, and provide as much donations as we could get across the border, which was never easy and always dependent on God providing us a Mexican officer that loved the Lord enough to let us through.  Though we served and did so with a deep love for Jesus, it was Saule that truly became my ultimate witness of a man being the very hands and feet of Jesus. He was not rich, but spent every single day in the trenches giving all he had.  I would cry many times each trip we took, and many of those tears were from witnessing the humble servant Saule was.  He never complained, he never stopped, and he never wanted recognition.  Those people loved him because he first loved them.  Saule impacted me every time I talked with him or served with him.  I often wonder as I walk through the day to day, what life would be like if each of us were as Saule… truly living out the scriptures by living like Jesus.  Saule had medical issues, he served.  Saule would run low on money, he served.  Saule would face adversity from the border crossing, he served.  I want to be like Saule because Saule was seeking to be like Jesus. I can tell you, every time we went to Mexico, where we were in the poorest of conditions, I never wanted to return.  It was in those times, in the most tragic of circumstances, that I found the deepest joy.  Tonight, as we seek peace, my prayer is we will understand that if we are living like Christ, nothing… NOTHING… will be able to steal our joy.  The world wants us to take care of ourselves first.  God wants us to take care of His people and let Him take care of us.  What is stopping us today?