we have legos on the brain at our house latelyIn between Xochi wetting her pants, me taking her to the car to change her and standing with her at the back of our fellowship hall trying to keep her from shouting, "poo poo!" "toy-wet" "Gammy!" "Soup!" and whatever other thing that happened to pop into her adorable little head, my pastor shared a truth in his short devotion that sprang fresh in me.
It was, basically, this: Christ died not only to reconcile us to God but also to reconcile us to one another. We see this in the picture of the last supper that is presented to us in scripture. We see Christ, Lord of all, stooping low in self-sacrifice to wash His disciples' feet. He humbled Himself out of love for them and as an example to us of how to love others.
Our pastor asked if anyone could share some practical examples of a feet washing equivalent in the church today. I didn't raise my hand but I thought about his question. I thought about how we, even in the church, value success and recognition. We want to defend ourselves and our righteousness. We are like the son who, unlike the prodigal, stayed and obeyed. We do everything "right" and then we seek our own glory for it as if we deserve it. Sometimes, we obey so we can say we're righteous instead of obeying because we love God and want to be in relationship with Him.
But this is not the example Christ set for us. Christ bent low, did the dirty job and became a servant so that we could be reconciled. I thought of a few relationships in my own life that need healing and reconciling. Sometimes I am tempted to say, "Well, I've done everything I can. I'm done. I guess I'll just have to move on." And yet, Christ died so that I could be reconciled to my brothers and sisters. If I am to be like Christ then I am to keep loving, keep humbling myself, keep serving, keep sacrificing and keep doing the hard jobs... even whenI get dirty in the midst of it.
I looked around the room at my church family tonight and was filled with gratefulness at the gift God gave me in them. A gift that could only be truly fulfilled through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. I am so thankful for this! In my own strength and wisdom, things can sometimes look hopeless. Yet, because of Christ, I can be reconciled to the church and can live in peace and unity with them. Because of Him, I am able to do the same with my husband and my children, my extended family, my co-workers, my friends (insert necessary relationship here). What grace!
5 comments:
Beautifully said!!!! OH how I need to remember this as well. Thanks for the challenge.
And a little Chapel family that sticks together through thick and thin, dirty and clean, dry or wet, poopy or not, is one of the best ways Christ shows us the blessings of the body. Thanks for sharing your Maundy thoughts, Cutzi!
Emily
Well said, Cutzi :D
As Pastor Bert was asking that question (modern equivalent of foot-washing), I thought of you... back in the bathroom with Xochi, probably doing something rather dirty.
And I was thinking that all moms, to some extent, understand that humbling, do-the-dirty-work attitude. It's a much smaller scale walking-out of being reconciled.
I second Emily's thankfulness for the Chapel family!
Julie
Thanks for your thoughts and reflections, Cutzi.
I’ve been thinking, too, lately, about the ways that our reconciliation to God in Christ works itself out in our relationships with others, most particularly among the family of believers.
And I’ve been struck by the fact that it’s not so much that Christ died so that I could at some point be reconciled to my brothers and sisters; Christ died and rose, reconciling me fully to God and simultaneously also reconciling me to others in the faith. He lived a perfect life of love and sacrifice, and we see in Him the holy life that we should live; He is a kind of example. But the more important thing, I’ve realized, is not that He shows me how to live and love; the most important thing is that His work of redemption, of reconciliation is accomplished. Done. Finished.
And so when I look at this family of believers around me, when I consider the hurts and resentments and the demanded sacrifices, I am not encouraged by the idea that I should live like Christ did; I am encouraged by the fact that I am already at one, reconciled, with these people of this family. And so I can love, forgive, do the dirty jobs, in light of and only because of that already accomplished fact. As Paul in Ephesians, speaking of the Jews and Gentiles says, “the dividing wall of hostility” is destroyed; Christ, in his body “reconcile[s] both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” The hostility among us is, at the most fundamental level, dead. It’s not that we can be one, that we can be reconciled someday, we already are! These commands, “Love as I have love you,” “Forgive as I have forgiven you,” I can do for my brother or sister, not because he shows me how, but because Christ has already effected reconciliation between us. I can, by faith, embrace that fact and live in the light of it. We feel our sacrifices and resentments still, of course, now, and are constantly dragged down by our sins and discouragements, but how good to think, on this Good Friday and Easter weekend, that the reconciliation is done, and someday we will feel that finished work and see it, as much as we know it by faith today.
Very well said, Melissa. And definitely, more fully, what I was thinking last night as I looked around the fellowship hall.
I like that you said, "Not that we should live as Christ did..." but more that we are able to live as Christ lived, because of what He did.
Again, what grace that He has brought such peace into our lives.
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