Loving Like Jesus
(week 14/05)
Olubi Johnson
John 13:12-15 NIV: 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. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
Here, we see the Lord Jesus giving us an example of how to love as He loved by washing the feet of His disciples.
How do we practically wash one another’s feet and so love one another as He loves us?
We do this by forgiving the sins of our brethren; asking God to give life to them and then praying for them in tongues to release the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit to enable them do better spiritually:
John 20:23 NIV: If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
1 John 5:16 NKJV: If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death.
Galatians 6:1-2 NIV: Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Jude 20-21 NKJV: But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God,
As we do this for one another, we will be cleansing one another from sin by the blood of Jesus and living water by the power of the Holy Spirit:
Ephesians 5:26 NKJV: that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
If we all start doing this before we rebuke or judge others, then our rebukes and judgments will yield more fruit in the lives of the brethren.
Doing this will release a spiritual chain reaction of edification in love in the body of Christ, and many sins which are blocking the flow of the power of God will be removed.
The body of Christ will be edifying itself in love:
Ephesians 4:15-16 NKJV: but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ– 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
As more and more of us do this diligently, a ‘critical’ mass or number of us will release enough power to cause an explosion of the manifestation of the fullness of God in us causing the world to believe and know that we are the disciples of Christ.
Ephesians 3:19 NKJV: to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
John 13:34-35 NIV: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
So today, start loving like Jesus by ‘washing’ the feet of the saints and so hasten the manifestation of the fullness of God in the church!
