Living and Serving Like Jesus

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-3;14

3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
John 13:3-5;12-14

3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:3-8

I know the idea that Jesus is God and that He came to serve us by dying in place of us because of our sin is a common Christian theme but I was blown away again by the gravity of this truth today. Jesus is GOD! He has always been! He created everything! He sustains everything by His Word! He is infinite! And He took on flesh (hunger, feelings, pain, tiredness, stress, confinement to one place and time)! And He came and served us by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross! This is crazy cool theology! This is crazy cool love!

I love Jesus because He first loved me! Thank You Jesus for your unmerited favor, grace, and love!

After doing what He did (and being Who He is), He commands us to treat others with the same kind of love that He has for us. This is SO convicting (if you want to read more on the subject, check out Matthew 18:21-35) and quite an undertaking. I believe the world would quickly be changed for the glory of Jesus Christ if His church would truly live out His forgiveness, love, and compassion for others.

God has recently been impressing on me how much I need to grow in this area. In the past, I have always viewed my time and energy as belonging to me but God is revealing to me that those things are not mine at all. They are tools to serve and love others and bring glory to God. I have always known this in theory but living it out in practice is another thing but I want to so honor God with my time and energy!