"A new command I give you"

 Hey, everyone! I hope that ya'll have been doing great..This week I have been on a social media fast, so it has been a minute since I posted my last blog. I was planning on making this post whenever I came back from the fast, and that is what the topic of this post was going to be about..I changed my mind, but I will sum up how this week has been before getting into what I am going to actually talk about.

 This week has been so refreshing and definitely much needed. So often, the first thing we do when we wake up is reach for our phone's and it was great not doing that this week...The reason I decided not to make that the main theme of this, though, was that talking about social media takes the focus off of Jesus and that is not what I am here to do. I feel called to lead whoever I can to God. Today, I am going to talk about a passage of Scripture that has always blown my mind and shows the true character of Jesus Christ perfectly. 

John 13.

In John 13, Jesus tells all about how He knew that He was going to be betrayed by one of His disciples, disowned by another, and deserted by all of them for a time. Still "He loved them to the end." I am going to type out the whole chapter, because you need to read the whole thing in order to understand the significance. I am going to break it up into separate passages like the Bible does.

"It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" Jesus answered, "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When 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. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: 'He who shared my bread has turned against me.' "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me." 

After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me." His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means." Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly." But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what he needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out and it was night. 

When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now; Where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later." Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Then Jesus answered, "Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crowns, you will disown me three times!" 

Okay, wow. That was a lot. Of course anyone that has read farther knows that Peter does in fact disown/deny Jesus three times. I have read and listened to this passage so many times, but every single time is the same in that I cannot believe how Jesus reacted. Well, I can because it is Jesus, but this is not how I would react at all. Jesus not only knew that his disciples were going to betray and deny Him, He also knew that He was about to be crucified very soon. That is why He told His disciples that he would only be with them a little while longer on earth. 

We, as people, cannot see into the future. If we could though, and we knew that one of our close friends was going to do wrong by us, wouldn't we cut that friendship off? Jesus knew that the people He was closest to were about to betray Him before He died and what did He do? He was washing their feet and telling them that they were to love one another as He loved them. In verse one it says, "He loved them to the end." 

Like with how He knew what the disciples were going to do, He also knows what me and you are going to do. Every single person, whether you believe in Jesus or not, if we are going by the Bible's standards are going to sin. If you go up to someone and ask them if they have ever broken any of the ten commandments, of course they are going to say yes. (If they don't, they are lying.) God knows that we all are sinners (Romans 3:23) and that without Jesus, we are utterly hopeless. He knows what you are going to think before you think it, say before you say it, and do before you do it. He still chooses to love you, even when He knows you are going to let Him down. Jesus gives us three lessons that we can takeaway from this passage:

(1.) A lesson in humility.

Jesus was, and still is, the Son of God. Do you think He HAD to wash the disciples stinky feet? No, he chose to. Jesus was sovereign, yet He acted as a servant. He had all things in His hand, yet He picked up a towel. He was Lord and Master, yet He served his followers.True humility grows out of a right relationship with the Father which is not merely thinking of one's self as lowly, but not thinking of one's self AT ALL.

(2) A lesson in holiness.

What does Jesus mean when He says to Peter, "unless I wash you, you have no part with me?" There is a difference between union and communion. Peter, as one of Christ's own was in union with Him, but sin can break our COMMUNION with Him. Also, why does Christ make a distinction between washing and cleansing in the passage? As a believer, when we are saved, we are washed all over. When we confess our daily sins to the Lord, we are having our feet washed, and our "walk," so to speak, is cleansed. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship in one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us." -1 John 1:7-9...Many believer's make the same mistake Peter made in wanting to be repeatedly saved (washed) when all they need is their feet washed (cleansing), that part of us which comes into daily contact with the world.

(3) A lesson in happiness

You might say, how could this be a lesson in happiness? Verse 17 said, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." Regardless of your circumstances, when we humbly serve others, walk according to God's holiness, and follow His Word, we will experience true happiness. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: love one another." The ultimate way of showing that you truly are washed in the Word is by putting it into practice.

The main point I wanted to get across with this is Jesus' character. He could have acted any way He wanted towards the men who were going to betray Him, but He still showed His grace and mercy by how he chose to treat them. He did not treat the disciples that were going to betray Him any different from the ones that were not going to do those things. So often we treat the people that treat us badly just as bad as they treat us. In reality, these people that treat you badly are the ones that need your kindness the most. "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?" (Matthew 5:46)

I don't know about you, but I want to love like Jesus loves. 

I hope that you enjoyed this post and got something from it.. I have said it before and I will say it again, if any of you need someone to pray for you, or just simply talk to you, I am always here. I do not know what the person reading this is going through, but I do know that we are all going through something. I also have no idea who is all reading these blogs, it doesn't let me know who does or anything like that.. so I have no idea if the person reading this is a believer or not. If you are not, please please reach out to me, I would love to talk to you. Don't worry, I am not going to try to make you believe anything, I would just like to share the Gospel with you and talk to you about the love of Jesus. I would put my number on here, but this is on the actual internet and not social media..so if you would like to talk, message me and I will give you my number. Love ya'll and I hope that you have a great week!! <3