And during supper, when the devil had
already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and
that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside
his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a
basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel
with which he was girded.
John
13:2-5
"Knowing that the Father had given
all things into his hands, that he had come from God and was going to
God."
Jesus knew who he was.
The False Reference
The reason we have such a difficult time laying aside our
garments and washing feet is that we're still trying to find out who we are.
Most of us have a very shaky sense of our own identity.
We're like a man who wakes up on a plane and can't remember his own name, or
where he came from, or where he's going; hoping with all his heart that when
the plane lands he'll meet some familiar face at the terminal that will bring
it all back to him.
To be poor in spirit, to
be meek and lowly of heart does not mean to be forever in a panic trying to
figure out who we are….
….But to be secure
enough inside about who we are that we can cheerfully face the truth of our
utter need of God's mercy.
The problem among believers is that instead of finding
themselves by losing themselves in God, they lose themselves by trying to find
themselves in the eyes of men.
We're living in a world where everybody keeps losing track
of who he is, where
everyone's self-image keeps blowing up in his face because it's founded on
human opinion rather than the Spirit of God.
Here's a woman who when she entered
into marriage a few years ago was strikingly beautiful and overflowing with
happiness. Now she has three children, a husband who lives for ABCs "Wide World
Of Sports," days filled with sickness and
boredom. The walls are closing in. If you asked her if she's the radiant bride who walked down the aisle a few years ago she'd
laugh in your face!
Take a look at her husband. He had
great plans for his life --- once. But now his whole personality looks like
it's been spin-dried. He's resigned himself to a monotonous job, boring home
life, whining children, complaining wife, and escapes into T.V., hockey, baseball
and football. He has long since lost track of who he is. His mind is shriveled and getting
smaller every day. And these people we watch on our television and read about
in Time Magazine, whose lives seem so interesting; most of them have
about as good a grip on who they are as on that bar of soap in the bottom of the
bathtub.
They have the same anxieties about
their identity, the same emptiness, the same inner desperation as the rest of
the population.
Ever since the fall of man, humans have tried to
establish who they are by comparing themselves with their fellow man.
Cain looked at his brother Abel with envy that turned to
murder because Cain only knew who he was with reference to Abel; and it made
him sick. Korah, Dathan and Abiram and
the two hundred and fifty who challenged Moses in the wilderness were trying to
find their identity with reference to Moses. "Who do you think you are,
Moses? You're no better than the rest of us!" (Moses never
said he was.)
The Pole Star
But in the Kingdom of God we know who we are not
by comparing ourselves with someone else, but from within – ever knowing who
we are in relation to God.
He is the pole star. Outwardly we
travel a road that gives us little reassurance as to who we are.
If we don't know who we are and keep knowing, we'll soon be
swallowed up by the dullness, the monotony, the hard things that come to us,
and open ourselves to
seducing spirits.
It happens to many believers. They
travel well for a while. Then circumstances become rough. And when they get
no assurance from outward sources or admiring friends, they become victims
of whatever lying spirit tells them something nice.
...Jesus, knowing that the Father had
given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to
God, rose
from
supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he
poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe
them with the towel with which he was girded.
John
13:3-5
This man,
washing the feet of his friends like a slave, suffers no identity crisis.
He is able to serve so freely because
he knows who he is in relation to the Father.
Knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands, that he had come from God and was going to God, he was
able to lay aside his garments and serve.
A person who is in doubt about who he
is can never do such things.
"For this gospel I was appointed a
preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not
ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able
to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me."
II Timothy 1:11-12
Paul is able to suffer as he does and
not lose his mind because he knows who he is in relationship to the true and
living God. He knows who he belongs to, where his anchor is.
To survive the storms and eerie calms and continuously
live in the mind of God which is mercy, free of the
need to find our identity in circumstances, or our comfort in lying spirits, we
must know who we are, not as some idea we read in a book, but as blazing inner
truth.
It's up to us to know and to keep knowing who we are.
Know Who You Are
It's up to you to know and keep knowing that you are
a redeemed child of God.
But when the time had fully come, God sent
forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, so that we might receive
adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his
Son. into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So through God you are
no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.
Galatians 4:4-7
A son of God --- male or female --- born of his nature,
redeemed and set free from those things that kept you in bondage to your old
nature.
And the proof that God has adopted you as a son is that
you have the Spirit of the Son crying in your heart, "Abba! Father!"
The man or woman who takes hold of this truth and bases
their life on it will begin to experience its reality. The old chains that
bound you will fall away and you will start living, thinking, praying,
choosing, conquering, like a son of God.
It's up to you to know and keep
knowing that you are a chosen vessel.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and
appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should
abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give
it to you.
John 15:16
Long before you ever heard of Jesus
Christ he knew you and he chose you to be his disciple. And now
he ordains you to go and bring forth fruit that will last.
He didn't choose us because we're so talented, or so kindhearted, or so spiritually inclined.
He chose us as living evidence of the
mercy of God.
If he can save us he can save anybody!
If he can use us he can use
anybody!
So how can a chosen vessel have an
identity crisis?
Only by taking its eyes off the One who
chose it and by starting to compare itself with other vessels.
Peter was chosen to do what Peter was
ordained to do, not what John was ordained to do. "If
I want John to tarry until I come, what's that to you? Follow
me. Keep your eye on your own work and leave your brothers and sisters work
alone."
It's up to you to know that you
have been called into a royal priesthood.
But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful
deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
I Peter 2:9.
And what does this priesthood
do?
Everything the Messiah, the High Priest
does.
It enters into his work of worshiping
the Father and serving him night and day, ministering the life of God to the
world through the blood of the Lamb, and above all interceding, praying.
The best place to discover again and. again who
we are in relationship to God is prayer –especially intercessory prayer.
As we pray for others by name, faithfully lifting them
before the Throne for blessing we will know that we are indeed members of a royal
priesthood and we will see life descending from heaven upon those for whom we pray.
It's up to you to know and keep
knowing that you are on your way to glory.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
it
does
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every one who thus hopes in him purifies
himself as he is pure.
I John 3:2-3
"Knowing that
he had come from God and was going to God."
Knowing that in spite of the humiliating and agonizing
things that lay directly ahead he was on his way back to the glory of the
Father.
If we allow ourselves to lose sight of the goal we make
ourselves vulnerable to every false goal, every distraction the enemy dangles
in front of our minds.
We are on our way to a place where all the glory for which
we were made, all the good our hearts have ever longed for, the beauty of the
living God to which the whole universe sings in harmony will be visible to our
eyes.
We will see his glory, we will hear unspeakable music, and
we will taste unimaginable delights. And the assurance that this glory waits
for us is that the foretaste of all this is ours now through the Holy Spirit.
But it's up to us to know and keep knowing where our
destination really is.
Who we are is clearly connected to where we're headed.
If I forget that I'm a pilgrim passing through this world
in the service of God on my way to glory in the service of God, I've lost my
identity, I've forgotten who I am.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had
given all things into his hands,
and that he had come from God and was
going to God.....
John 13:3
So we, knowing that we are ….
redeemed Sons of God,
chosen vessels,
a royal priesthood
and on our way to glory,
we can lay aside our garments, gird
ourselves with a towel and wash feet until Jesus comes.
May the Spirit of God help us to be clear about who we are
and remain clear through whatever storms may come until the day dawns and the
night is gone forever.
REB 1977 Found in the booklet Guidance