Unless

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin.  Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.  When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”  “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”  Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”  Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”  John 13:3-9

Peter’s refusal (at first) wasn’t a matter of control; it was just the opposite.  Peter knew himself to be unworthy to be served by Jesus.  Jesus was holy; Peter was a leather-faced fisherman who knew the fickleness within himself.  He couldn’t fit in anyone’s description of pure.  He wasn’t good enough.  And he was right.

Peter wasn’t just right about himself; he was right about all of us.  He knew what the prophet had said about all humans: 

We are all infected and impure with sin.  When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.  Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.  

Isaiah 64:6

Hence, Jesus’ answer…Simon, buddy…if you won’t take my washing, you won’t have anything from me.  This is the whole issue of salvation God offers.  There is nothing any human being can do to be cleansed from our sin:

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.  Romans 3:20

God specifically said no human being still practicing evil, or having refused Christ will be allowed entrance to the New Jerusalem, Heaven:

Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Revelation 21:27

The Lamb’s Book of Life is the account of everyone who accepts the cleansing from sin which Jesus offered by virtue of His death on the cross.  What Jesus taught his disciples in that upper room, particularly Peter, was a metaphor.  He washed their feet, and it represented the washing of their hearts that he would do the next day.  What looked like the greatest failure in history, a “would-be” Messiah, hanging naked, bloodied, beaten, and stone-cold-dead on a criminal’s cross, would be His offer of eternal, internal cleansing each of us needs to be right with our Creator.  Jesus told Peter (and He tells us) UNLESS I give you this cleansing, you’ll never be mine…you’ll NOT be in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

For You Today 

I have known many people who hesitated to accept Christ as Savior, because, like Peter, they knew how unworthy they were, uncertain they could live-into God’s ways.  And that is the very first step in the process of inking your name in His book.  You must repent of your sins. 

UNLESS you know how bad you are, you’ll never understand how marvelous grace is…and how much God wants to forgive you, and draw you close to Him.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  So...Then... and  His Way    

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Sorrow Leaves When Joy is Born

 

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

“In a little while you won’t see me anymore.  But a little while after that, you will see me again.”  Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’?  And what does he mean by ‘a little while’?  We don’t understand.”  Jesus realized they wanted to ask him about it, so he said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant?  I said in a little while you won’t see me, but a little while after that you will see me again.  I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice.  You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.  It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor.  When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.  So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.  John 16: 16-22

I have never given birth to a child (not exactly a newsflash there), but I’ve been there when it happened.  We’ve shared previously on Rocky Road[1] how I missed the birth of our first two children, because Dads weren’t allowed in the delivery room back then.  But I was there for the third, and pain giving way to overwhelming joy is unmistakable!

Jesus’ described the pain as “anguish”, and he called new life “joy”.  And it’s because of the nurturing gene surging through every part of the mother’s body.  Call it hormones and chemistry if you will, but the desire to procreate and preserve is hard-wired into the process by the Master Creator. 

I watched a video on Youtube recently of The Cat Who Adopts Baby Ducklings.  It was bizarre to see a feline accepting orphaned baby ducks as part of her new litter.  Cats normally don’t become caretakers for birds, they eat birds!  But this Momma cat had just given birth, and couldn’t help herself.  Even months later the bond between mother feline and grown ducks displayed what God built-in to His creation – we are born to hold life up…even when it goes against our nature to self-preserve and promote.  There is too much joy beyond the anguish to resist!

Now apply that to Jesus’ disciples in the upper room when he told them the passion was about to begin, and the pain would be unbearable for them.  But, like the passing of labor that gives way to the newborn baby, pain would transform into great joy!

Jesus had told Nicodemus if he ever wanted to see the Kingdom of God he would have to be born again[2].  That reference has lasted two millennia because of the joy untold millions have experienced in the passing of sorrow’s pain, when a sinner’s confession transports him into the joyful presence of love unbounded.  Words are totally inadequate at this point.  Simply look at the faces of a newborn child with the one who gave him free room and board for nine months.  Sorrow leaves when joy is born!

For You Today

Jesus said that no one would be able to rob his disciples of the joy he had planned for them.  He meant it – and it happened – and he meant it for us too!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day! 

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] See:  Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

[2] See John 3