IN TOUCH DEVOTIONAL 22ND MARCH 2024 BY DR. CHARLES STANLEY, FRIDAY MESSAGE
In Touch Devotional 22nd March 2024 TOPIC: Parting Words: A New Commandment
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE: John 13:1-17
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God,
got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.”
Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”
Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you. “
For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
“You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.
“If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
“For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.
“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
TODAY’S MESSAGE:
Is there a task around the house you just can’t stand to do, yet you know it needs to be done? Maybe you find yourself looking the other way, hoping someone else will do the dirty work.
But not Jesus. On this final night with His friends, as they gathered for dinner, someone needed to clean all those filthy feet. After all, they would be sitting on the ground, their bodies close to the low table of food. Their sandals would be caked with dust and dirt and whatever else they walked through on the streets. This task was considered so disgusting and menial that it’s thought even slaves at times refused to do it.
But on this night, Jesus Himself filled a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet. Peter was appalled and cried, “Never shall You wash my feet!” (John 13:8). Yet Jesus insisted. There, in their last hours together, it was paramount that they understood exactly who Jesus was. Yes, Jesus was their Teacher, Lord, and Master. And His signs and wonders were evidence that He was God. But this God came to serve, not to demand. To die, not to kill.
What does it mean to follow such a God? That night, with His friends, Jesus demonstrated this vividly. No student can be greater than his teacher, after all. We must be the people who serve one another.
Bible in One Year: Ruth 3-4
Thought for Today: We love like Jesus when we serve one another.
Dr. Charles Stanley was the founder of In Touch Ministries and a New York Times best-selling author. Throughout his ministry, he demonstrated a keen awareness of people’s needs and provided Christ-centered biblically based principles for everyday life.