How Low Will You Stoop?

It had been an extremely busy week. A week filled with business meetings, children's programs, adult programs... you name it, it probably happened this week. He was looking forward to getting home to relax and spend some time with his family. As he's spending the last hour on Friday getting ready for Sunday morning worhsip services, the phone rings. It was the local hospital calling to see if The Salvation Army could put up a homeless man for the night. Unfortunately, there was not a shelter in this town; the Major would have to make some phone calls to see if the shelter in the nearest city could be able to take the man for the night. The woman on the phone said, "Alright, we'll send him down." Before the Major could confirm there was a place for the man to stay. The ambulance came, dropped the man off, and left. The man wore a hospital gown along with his own soiled pants and socks. This homeless man was disoriented and did not know what was going on. The Major escorted the man into the office of the case worker, went down to the clothing room, and picked up a clean set of clothes. He brought the items up to give to the man. However, the man was so disoriented he wasn't able to give the caseworker andy information, let alone put on the new clothes. Instead of leaving the man in the soiled mess, Major began to help him. He stooped down to his knees and began by the helping the man remove his urine soaked socks and replacing them with clean ones.

Could it be that this is what Jesus meant when He told His disciples to wash feet? While this is not a practice in our society today, can we still demonstrate modern day foot washings? I have found this to be true in the examples I have seen in officers (pastors) and lay leaders within the several corps (churches) I have attended in my life. Like Jesus being inconvenienced and doing a job that was needed to be done when it should have been done by a slave, these officers and lay leaders inconvenience themselves through the modern day foot washing. I have seen it!

A member of my church took a young lady to a salon to get her hair done because it was a tangled mess, then took her to lunch and a department store to buy a new outfit in order for this young lady to feel special for a day. I have witnessed an officer spend hours on a little girl's hair because it was infected with head lice in order for her to spend a week at camp. In the business of the day, I have seen my previous pastor take the time to take one of the elderly ladies to a doctor's appointment. I have seen two seperate families take in trouble teens as foster children so they could have hope in the future.

The act of Jesus washing the disciples feet was a deliberate act. It was convicting and piercing to the disciples' hearts of their pride and their refusal to lower themselves to be servants. Jesus sets an example for us. "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required tht those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 We prove ourselves faithful by our acts of service... by our modern day foot washings.Oswald Chambers says it this way, "The things Jesus did were the most menial of everyday tasks, and this is the indication that it takes all of God's power in me to accomplish even the most common tasks in His way. Can I use a towel as He did? Towels, dishes, sandals, and all the other ordinary things in our lives reveal what we are made of more quickly than anything else."The Major stooped down low to remove those urine soaked socks. Jesus stooped down to wash the disciples' feet. My prayer for my own life and the life of my church is that we will be able to answer the question, "How low will you stoop?" with an answer that will make Jesus smile upon us.