FULL EXTENT

It was just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.  John 13:1  NIV

As I write this, it is Good Friday.  This is the day Jesus became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).  This is the day God’s full plan was put into action – at the great cost to Himself and His Son.  It was the day where He showed the ones He chose, as well as the world, the full extent of His love.

I read this verse last night because I was thinking of that Thursday so many years ago.  What was Jesus doing; what were His disciples doing?  What was the waiting world doing?  And fast forward to today: what is Jesus doing; what are His disciples doing; what is the waiting world doing?

We do know Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us as we are told in Luke 22:69 and Romans 8:34.  Praise God for this!

What are His disciples doing?  To be a disciple is to be in the position of a learner.   One who is learning from his master – that Master being Jesus, the Son of God.  Learning of Him, His ways, His attitude, His heart.  And then doing likewise.  What good is learning, if not put into practice?  We are to be doers of the Word, not just hearers (James 2:14-26).

Not with a check list of deeds to be accomplished, but with hearts and hands ready to serve the Master, the way He did while on earth.  Washing feet, serving others, demonstrating compassion, listening to others, allowing Himself to be interrupted, spending all night praying, anguish in the Garden, being betrayed. 

Jesus gave of Himself.  And because we are disciples of His, we are to do just that.

What is God asking us to do to show the full extent of our love to Him?  Has He called you to something that you keep putting off because it is a little uncomfortable, a little difficult, a little weird?  Something that requires, time, money, self? 

Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37) and we see that demonstrated in the life of Christ.  He did what we would deem impossible.  But it not only was possible, but beyond our wildest imagination.  With far-reaching results.

What if we were to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34)?  What could be accomplished by our simple act of obedience? 

Since this is a blog space dedicated to encouraging those who suffer – how can we, in times of suffering, obey God?  What does that look like on a daily basis?

For me, it meant not complaining.  It meant enduring.  Enduring knowing His plan had a greater purpose than just causing me pain.  As I look back on those long, long years, I remember the anguish I went through.  It causes me to cringe just thinking about it.  Some many sleepless nights.  So much throbbing in both feet.  So much change to my life, and my family’s life.

It.  Was.  Hard.

Very hard.

I had read Philippians 3:10 about 10 years before that suffering thinking more about knowing Christ would be incredible, full not seeing the other parts of that verse.  God wanted me to know Him through the fellowship of His suffering.  I did not see it coming, at all.  I was so focused on the minute space right in front of my feet, when God was focused on the entire road ahead of me.

He maps out our highway of holiness, the race we are running, He maps out where He wants us to go.  He does not ‘make’ us go there, necessarily, He wants us to choose.  However, we do find ourselves in the places on the road where the difficulties and trials are found – and we did not choose those places.

I did not choose to have both feet injured for 5 long agonizing years. But, I was given a choice on how I would respond.

I am still learning those lessons.  But my prayer life deepened, my trust grew and my craving for more understanding for God and His Word awakened to such a degree that I long to study His Word more and more.

So, by demonstrating the full extent of His love to His disciples by washing their feet – this was the immediate act Jesus did following what John writes in John 13 – with the Cross yet before Him. 

What can we walk away with?  What can I see in this act of a servant?  What can I see in Jesus’s love, knowing the betrayal was yet to come, the beatings, the cross-examining, the denials, the Cross – what grabs me the most right now?  What does His full extent of His love look like to me, right now?

What does it look like to you?

PRAYER

Father God, as I go into this weekend, with Good Friday here - what are You wanting me to know? What are You wanting me to see? To do? To surrender? I want to lay down self, and pick up Your cross, and follow You. I want to show the full extent of my love for You be being a servant of Yours. I want to love You without limits.