Ministering

Meditation
John 13:12-15-- 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.
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If you believe that washing dishes is woman’s work and refuse to set foot in the kitchen to help your wife do you understand what Jesus did by washing His disciples feet? If you believe that sex is bothersome and refuse to meet your husband’s needs because “you are tired,” do you understand what Jesus did by washing His disciples feet?

Somehow we have glorified the foot-washing ceremony as deeply profound while at the same time shelving it as an antiquated demonstration that no longer pertains to our shoe-covered society.  By doing so we have lost the dynamic truth that the very essence ofministering to people involves serving them at the most ordinary level.

Mowing a shut-in’s lawn, changing the oil of one who is mechanically clueless, fixing a friend’s computer, making coffee for tired co-workers--these are all simple foot-washing opportunities.  Whenever we are adjacent to needs we are adjacent to ministry.  It is the simple act of serving in the most mundane of places that enables us to communicate love to one another.  How refreshing it is to encounter people who in humility think nothing of observing and seizing opportunities to assist those around them. 
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Would you stop what you are doing right now!  Look around you with new eyes and ask, “Heavenly Father, who can I serve?”  When the Holy Spirit speaks, don’t hesitate. Give the cup of cold water to the thirsty soul beside you in Jesus’ name and for His glory!  And if by chance you are one of those discouraged souls who serves all the time without recognition.  Don't lose heart. God sees what you do.  If your heart is right, your reward is in heaven!
 
Inspiration
Ministering as opportunity surrounds us does not mean selecting our surroundings, it means being very selectly God’s in any haphazard surroundings which He engineers for us.  The characteristics we manifest in our immediate surroundings are indications of what we will be like in other surroundings . . . Towels and dishes and sandals, all the ordinary sordid things of our lives, reveal more quickly than anything what we are made of.—Oswald Chambers in My Utmost For His Highest
 
©1999 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box. Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)