Fill me with Jesus.

Lord, 

Fill me with Jesus.

Everyday.

God guide my eyes upward when the things below seem to threaten me.  Lead my gaze to You where You sit on the throne above all thrones and see me.  Let my hands and my heart fly to You as I trust in Your power over whatever situation is before me, whether fear or loss, boredom or rejection, loneliness or insecurity, unforgivenes or anger, hurt or desire, in everything Lord bring my eyes to see You as higher and greater than all of that.  That You have prepared the way for me to walk in, and that each circumstance of every day is preparing me for the promises.  

Lord I need to be emptied of my selfish ambitions and filled with Jesus. 

Lord give me faith to walk in your ways, to see others as those I love instead of as people I need love from.  That when I see You I will see them too. 

Father, put the example of Christ in my hands and in all that I think and do. 

In Jesus name I pray,

Amen.

---

I heard an amazing reminder today.  

Before Jesus was about to leave, what was the very last thing, the most important thing He did for His disciples?  He knew it was going to be the last moment he would have with his friends, his followers, his chosen who would go out into the world, and what did Jesus do for them? 

“Before the Passover Festival, 

Jesus knew that His hour had come 

to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

Jesus knew that the Father 

had given everything into His hands, 

(Do you know that the Father has given you everything too, when He gave Jesus to you?  Or does your thought life and actions reflect a lack or a feeling of incompleteness that leads to hopelessness and complaining? Jesus knew.  Even in the face of His coming murder, He knew the Father was greater and that His promises were solid.). 

"that He had come from God, 

and that He was going back to God. 

(Jesus KNEW who He was and where He was going!  Do you know who you are and where you are going?  Do you really know who you are and really where you are actually going?  Because if you do then you wouldn't question or doubt either of those things, you would know, just like Jesus knew here.)

This is the amazing part.  

It says He knew, as if the thought suddenly occurred to Him that He was about to leave soon to go where the Father had said He would go, back to His place by the Father!  Jesus knew this was it and it was as if that thought happened he realized what He needed to do as the most final and important lesson for His disciples to have and hold for the rest of their lives, his transition was right then and there at the dinner table: 

"So He got up from supper, 

laid aside His robe, 

took a towel, 

and tied it around Himself. 

Next, He poured water into a basin 

and began to wash His disciples’ feet 

and to dry them 

with the towel tied around Him.

When Jesus had washed their feet 

and put on His robe, 

He reclined again and said to them, 

“Do you know what I have done for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

For I have given you an example 

that you also should do 

just as I have done for you.”

John 13:1, 3-5, 12-15

When I heard this it hit me. 

What am I living for? 

I see the celebrities in their perfect bodies and beautiful clothes, I see the stars on reality shows laughing, I see the pictures on Instagram of those who are traveling and making art and I want that.  I want what they have, or I look at my life and see how far I am from having better things.  I grow silent and feel pathetic, I cry or I try to find some other way to gratify my desire for more. I look for something else.  How can I get what I want?  The selfish ambition creeps up on me like a silent fart.  It isn't seen or heard but I know it's there by all the signs, the signs of greed, envy, lust, and discontent.  It's a stench in my soul, as foul crap.   Yet when did it happen, how did it suddenly creep up on me like that?  But the greater truth is Jesus.  I look and see Jesus and read what His last lesson was.  The very last thing He, it says He got up from the dinner table, it was as if it was so abrupt because He knew it was so crucial. 

“Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into His hands, that He had come from God, and that He was going back to God. 

So He got up from supper, laid aside His robe, took a towel, and tied it around Himself. 

Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him."

Just like that.  

No frilly or smooth transitions or a care about what they might think (in fact Peter spoke up about what He thought and Jesus responded and just proceeded.). But he got up, and it says He knew. 

He knew who He was and where He was going. 

It says He loved the disciples to the end! This was the end.  His love culminated in the final display of what He wanted to give to His disciples as the most important lesson of all. 

So simple and so Jesus.

He got up. 

Put His robe to the side, 

Picked up a towel and wrapped it around him,

Just moving in motion one after the other, 

And then he grabbed a basin and started filling it with water (I imagine the disciples are probably watching all of this happen with the most cutest confused looks on their faces, haha) 

And then just like that, after the water is in the basin Jesus probably got down on the floor and dunked the first pair of mud-caked toes in the water and just washed.  It says he washed their feet. 

And each person, as they got their feet washed, got their feet dried by the towel Jesus had put on at the beginning because He knew exactly what He was doing.  He was dead set on washing their feet as the last lesson before He would depart back to the Father. 

Then He says, did you see that? 

Did you see what I just did?

I know you don't understand because it's so counter cultural and it goes against everything you thought was right and good, but did you see what your Master and Lord just showed you? 

Jesus is for sure.  He literally finished the last pair of feet, and once everyone had been washed He gets back on His own two feet and gets His robe, probably tosses the nasty towel in the laundry and then it says he goes back to reclining.  He's chillin!  He's not like "yea, I'm awesome" or "show me your thankfulness".  He literally just goes back to how He was before, because nothing in His heart had changed.  It was love from start to finish. 

"When Jesus had washed their feet 

and put on His robe, 

He reclined again and said to them, 

“Do you know what I have done for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord. 

This is well said, for I am. 

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, 

have washed your feet, 

you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 

For I have given you an example 

that you also should do 

just as I have done for you.”

Wow.  There is no television screen or Instagram photo or applause, there's this guy that has all the power in the room, and He strips off his clothing (which also signifies an indignity about His appearance...imagine you're at dinner and you suddenly remember you have an important thing to do so you just do it right there without any care for what the other people will think or say and imagine if that important thing was something that made you appear indignant like removing a wig or crying right there in front of everyone.) here's Jesus with the highest honor and reputation and image among all the other guys, and he just gets up, takes his robe off, grabs a towel and ties it around his wait and then find a basin and fills it with water, all the while the disciples are sitting at the table stunned in confusion and just perplexed at what's happening.  Then Jesus does the unthinkable.  He does the unthinkable. 

Jesus starts washing feet.  Not just a pair of feet but 12 pairs of feet! 

And!! 

Jesus washes his betrayers' feet!!

I mean, what?!

Jesus washed the feet of the guy He KNEW was going to betray Him. 

Can we let that sink?  I mean, come on. 

What is that.  

Who does that? 

Who knowingly serves the guy that stabs them in the back? 

Jesus does. 

Jesus does, and He asked "did you see what I did?"

Do you see what He did?

May we begin to walk into the will of the Father willingly and knowingly in every circumstance and situation, ready and confident about who we are and where we are going as we wash the feet of others, including those we know have hurt us.  Jesus didn't speak much as He usually does using parables and sermons, but the last thing He did was to show us, this is it guys.  This is what it looks like.  This is what my entire life given for you is going to look like, did you see it?  Now as I have done for you, do for one another.  This is the very last lesson before I go. 

How many of us, when we look at our lives, see Jesus's example given to us?  Do we see this swift and confident movement of dignity off, on my knees, washing lots of dirty feet, drying, and then when it's all said and done just reclining as if it was nothing but the right thing to do.  No looking around for approval, no hesitation, no nothing.  

It wasn't something he did to get admiration or applause, he did it because He was saying this is life.  Even though I'm your master, which is true, this is what life looks like.  This is the way.  The truth. And the life.  

Believe Me? 

And the disciples did.  They believed.  Every one of them (minus Judas) was murdered for this belief.  (John was exiled, but he was the only one who wasn't killed for following Jesus) Because they knew death was nothing, they knew like Jesus had when He showed them that this was life! They knew who they were and where they were going.  They saw what Jesus showed them, and they it showed in their lives too!

I pray that I would know who I am and where I am going.  That I would see Jesus and what He gave me.  That I would do everything from this place, this confidence and swiftness.  We are here but for a short time, everyone is going to die eventually.  But what is everyone living for?  I found myself praying to God after reading this passage, what have I been living for that averted my eyes from Jesus to all these other people and things?  

Jesus is the way when I am lost.

Jesus is the truth when I am confused or conflicted. 

And Jesus is the Life when Death threatens me. 

Be filled with Jesus today. 

Jmegrey