What Does Love Look Like?

I was reading this morning in John 13 about when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.  Knowing who he was, knowing he was God, knowing that the Father had placed all things under his power, knowing that he was about to be betrayed, knowing all these things, he laid aside his outer garments, girded himself with a towel and began washing the dirt off of his disciples’ dusty feet.

As I mused on the passage my mind kept coming back to a story I heard recently from a friend of mine who is a live-in caretaker for the disabled.  My friend told me that she and her then current charge were at odds and she had gone to her room to pray, and not allow her mouth to speak out of what she was feeling, hurt and rejected by the one she served.  Then she heard the elderly woman in the hall bathroom, crying softly.  My friend had to go to her.  She was as always, my friend’s first priority.  She found her charge standing in the bathroom covered in her own feces, tears of shame streaming down her face, helpless to clean herself up, and too ashamed to call the one she had been quarreling with to come and help her.

            “I have lost my dignity!” the lady wailed.

            “Since when does dignity come out of your rear end?” my friend countered.  “Your dignity is up here.”  She tapped her forehead and got to work cleaning up her charge.

            My friend was hurt, feeling rejected, but put aside all of that to love and serve the one God had placed in her life.

            “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34.  As missionary, Heidi Baker teaches, love the One, and then love the one in front of you. That is what Jesus did, even loving Judas who was about to betray him.  Loving Peter, who would deny that he even knew Jesus only hours later, Jesus, the Son of the Living God knelt down and washed Peter's, and Judas' dirty feet.

            Who would you have me love today, Daddy?  Make me ready, armed with knowing who I am to you, ready to serve and stoop down to lift someone else up, to clean up the traffic off of someone’s feet, or the waste of life off of someone’s body, to love as you love.

Sprinkled, Not Poured

Jesus said that we are to be the salt of the earth.  But as Pastor Glenn Swank of Barnegat Bay Assembly of God recently taught his congregation, if you dump the whole salt shaker on one bite, you ruin the steak.  So God sprinkles the salt, disburses his kids, his salt, like dandelion seeds propelled by the breeze, to add his flavor, his presence in many situations. 

As you walk the rows of tents at certain arts and crafts festivals, you may encounter some salt when you stop at the arched tent with a sign reading, “Lampworked Art Glass by Jim Spaloss”. It may be the gleam of the glass dancing in the sunlight that draws your eye to the sparkling beads and sculptures.  But you may well get more than you bargained for when you pick up the gold-streaked, pink glory bead, or run your fingers over the raised droplets on the glistening dew drop bead.  You may get a story about how God’s glory shows up in ordinary people, just like clear glass turns pink when fumed with 22 karat gold; or about refreshing dew that does not evaporate in the heat of the day; or about an artist who worships God as he sculpts glass. You may get a word of encouragement.  You may receive a prayer for your insomnia or your upcoming back surgery.  You may even get a hug from someone who five minutes earlier was a stranger to you.

Any or all of these treasures you may receive at this salt-filled artist’s booth, whether or not you make a purchase.  The sign reads, “art glass”, but hope is dispensed here.  Come, buy and eat, you who have no money.  Come feast on Jesus, for “the one who feeds on me will live because of me”. John 7:57