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"We and Not I"

11/24/2025

Luke 22:24 The apostles got into an argument about which one of them was the greatest. 25 So Jesus told them: Foreign kings order their people around, and powerful rulers call themselves everyone’s friends. 26 But don’t be like them. The most important one of you should be like the least important, and your leader should be like a servant. 27 Who do people think is the greatest, a person who is served or one who serves? Isn’t it the one who is served? But I have been with you as a servant.

I want to get a glimpse of what is happening here.   Jesus had been with the disciples for over three years.   They had witnessed His many miracles, heard His teachings and been privy to many of the intimate unknown messages He delivered and modeled.   Jesus had been with the disciples in the upper room celebrating the Jewish Passover as He instituted the first Holy Communion.   That night He took bread, broke it, gave His Father thanks and explained to those gathered around Him that His body would soon be broken just like that loaf of bread.   It was a powerful metaphor but it left the disciples with the familiar “deer in the headlights” look on their faces.   Then Jesus took the cup, gave God thanks and praise and told the disciples that the cup represented His blood.   The blood that was going to pool on the ground under the cross for the sins of humankind.   Through this sacrifice, He was going to establish a new and everlasting covenant between humankind and God. But the disciples were clueless!   They didn’t get it!   I’m not so sure I would have either.

Instead of putting two and two together they were only focused on themselves.   It was all about them!   In this Scripture, Jesus is talking about saving the world and they’re fighting over who will be the greatest!   Have you ever heard the phrase, “a box of rocks?”   Jesus knew that it was time for extreme measures!   All of the “on the job training” they had had over the past three years was getting ready to disappear into oblivion, because it was still all about them!

   Surprisingly, Jesus took a towel and a basin of water and knelt down to wash the disciple’s feet. I can’t help but wonder what was going through their minds.   I can only image the silence that must have taken over the room.   “What in the world is He doing?”   “He’s not supposed to do that!”   “That job is for the servant of the homeowner to do!”   “Jesus is our King … not our maid!”

Jesus continued that night to individually go to each disciple, humble Himself and wash their feet as the master’s servant would normally do.   Jesus had just shared a meal with them, but now He was on His knees washing their feet.   As He continued going from one to another, He finally came to the stubborn one, Peter.   “You’ll not wash my feet Jesus!”   “You’re the King!”   I wonder if Peter actually thought that Jesus had momentarily forgotten who He was?   Ridiculous!   But then Jesus stuns Peter with a rebuttal that should send shivers down our spines.   “Unless you allow Me to wash your feet, you will have nothing to do with Me!”   Could it really be that Jesus was serious?

What Jesus was essentially saying to Peter and to us is that unless we allow God to “serve” us, we will never be forgiven and will be in an eternal state of sin.   God has to serve Humankind in order to accomplish His will.   Think about it!

As a believer in Jesus, I have to allow God the opportunity to do His work. And God chooses to work as a servant in order to redeem human beings.   In this scenario, one had to accept that “It was not about you” in order to comply with Jesus’ request to serve and redeem them.   They needed to give it up, to let loose, to throw away, to trample upon their own sense of pride, arrogance and self-worth as the King of Kings knelt down to wash their feet.   Humility and Lordship mixed perfectly!

NOTE TO SELF: Let Him work because without it … I’m done!

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Expect Opposition

11/16/2025

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As a Christian you will always find opposition just as Jesus did.   There will always be those that chose not to believe in the Scriptures and how they represent God, His character and His Laws.   Even in the church today we find this.   Recently, the United Methodist Church put behind themselves the struggling and striving over various issues of sexual lifestyle.   To say it was a difficult time would be an understatement!   In years past, questions surfaced in the debate like; “Isn’t God a loving God?”   “Would God really exclude someone from a loving relationship with Himself?”   “If so, is God’s Word still relevant in the culture today?”

TRUST seems to be the heart of the issue.   Do we really take God at face value and trust in Him or not?   Do we really believe that He can dictate His Word for humankind and deliver it to us in the Holy Scriptures?   Do we believe that His Word is timeless and still applies to life today?   If we really trust Him, how can we deny what His Word declares?   Does not trust in God mean trusting in something that we do not comprehend or necessarily agree with?   In the Garden of Gethsemane didn’t Jesus say “Not what I will … but what You will?”   How about us?

Realize this: opposition will come from good hearted well-meaning people that firmly believe in what they are upholding.   For the most part they are not evil or trying to undermine God’s Word, but are people that have been misled, just like in the garden of Eden when Satan asked; “did God really say not to eat from that tree?”   Hence, the introduction of doubt!   Is it possible that many of the disputes in the church today and in our personal lives are simply based on a lack of faith and trust?

You see, trust in God does not come by way of complete understanding, He is incomprehensible.   His ways are much higher than ours.   Trust only comes when we are willing to accept what He says to us and to let it settle in our hearts as in the heart of a trusting little child.   Jesus asked the father to forgive those that were persecuting Him because they didn’t know what they were doing … so what’s changed… nothing that I see …

NOTE TO SELF: I’m as guilty as those that persecuted Jesus, trust in what God has said, not on my own understanding … even when I don’t like what He said …

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A Story of Grace

11/11/2025

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I was attending a large contemporary church in Grand Rapids Michigan.   At the time I was also heavily involved in a Prison Ministry.   Every month, volunteers would meet at my house for a pizza party and stuff over 1,000 envelopes with Christian materials that were being mailed throughout the country.   This was tedious work, and after several years the number of volunteers started to dwindle.   So, I told the staff at the church that I was looking for more volunteers.

One Sunday after the worship service a very disheveled lady approached me as I was pouring myself a cup of coffee.   “I would like to volunteer.”   “Excuse me” I said, “What do you want to do?”   “I want to help with your prison ministry, you know, mailing your letters!”   Grace was a middle-aged woman with some staggering physical issues.    She was extremely overweight and her clothes looked like she had drooled all over the front of them and then slept in them.   Grace appeared to have a great deal of emotional baggage also and frankly, I wasn’t sure I could trust her to do what needed to be done.   The blouse she was wearing had food stains all down the front of it and her shoes were worn out and muddy.   But there was more, Grace had problems speaking.   She would stutter and stumble over her thoughts and at times seemed to be unaware of all that was going on around her.

I explained to Grace that each month there were almost a thousand envelopes that needed to be stuffed and over five thousand sheets of paper that needed to be folded.   A daunting task!   “OK,” she said.   At this point my chin was dragging on the floor!   Was this really God’s answer to my prayers for help?

I decided that I would box up all of the materials for the next mailing and take them to her house and just see what happened.   This is ridiculous I thought!   She looks like she can hardly take care of herself much less stuff all these envelops and keep it all straight!   But…. whatever!

The following week I had a hard time finding the address that she had given me.   When I finally found the address, I thought I must be on the wrong planet!   The house at that street address looked like it was condemned!   As I made my way through the debris splattered yard I felt a sense of shame.   My house was very nice, but this one was a mess!   Could this really be where she lives?    As the door opened there was Grace.   This time she had on a different dress but it still had the tell-tale food stains flowing down the front of it.   “Oh man, what am I getting myself into?” I thought.   As I went through the door the reality of Grace’s world struck me.   It was a barren room, with a large TV blaring.   There was an unfriendly smell of stale food and mold, and the place looked like a hurricane had gone through it!   Was I going to leave my precious prison ministry materials with her?

But then I met the source of her dilemma, her children.   Grace was the mother of two severely autistic Children.    The television was their source of engagement with the world.   As the children would move around through the house, they would always end up back at the TV.   When it came to meals, the stains were tell-tale signs of trying to get her severely handicapped children to eat.   As I made my way into her world, further and further I questioned if she would be the best choice with which to leave such responsibility.   I had to make a decision: is God the captain or not, was it about me or God?   Immediately the children were drawn to the new obstacles that were in their way.   Boxes of letters, envelopes and stamps.   What have I done!

          Grace was a woman that faced daily challenges I rarely had ever considered.   And as her name implies, she did it with grace!   In her own way, Grace wanted to follow the calling that Christ had placed on her heart.   She was already caring for her family as best as she could, but she felt God calling her to help with the prison ministry.   It was a humbling experience that day to walk out of her house realizing what challenges I would face that week compared to hers.   And she still wanted to answer the call of God on her life!   In reality, God was her captain!

For several years Grace did a fantastic job!   The envelopes were stuffed and organized, placed in the mailing trays properly and always ready to go at the agreed upon time.   Grace was truly a measure of God’s grace in my life.   Wow, did I learn a lot about myself, God and others through that experience!

NOTE TO SELF: Stop judging others, let God do His thing!
www.toughquestionsforgod.org

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Stay Away from Mutany

11/3/2025

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In any walk of holiness and communion with God there is the inevitable reality of mutiny.   As I understand the story of Satan and one third of the angels being kicked out of heaven, I see the human tendency towards mutiny against God.   Maybe its pride or selfishness but the problem is there.   I can go along for a while but eventually I want to call the shots and make my own decisions.   After all I have intelligence, wisdom and the ability to reason.   I am an intelligent person, with wisdom and can do for myself!

Ezekiel 28
11 The LORD's word came to me: 12 Human one, sing a lament for the king of Tyre. Say to him, The LORD God proclaims: You were full of wisdom and beauty, the image of perfection. 13 You were in Eden, God's garden. You were covered with gold and every precious stone: carnelian, topaz, and moonstone; beryl, onyx, and jasper; lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald. On the day that you were created, finely crafted pendants and engravings were prepared. 14 You, a winged creature, were installed as a guardian. I placed you in God's holy mountain where you walked among the stones of fire. 15 From the day you were created until injustice was found in you, your ways were assured. 16 But because of your trade, your oppressive business practices piled up, and you became impure. So I expelled you from God's mountain. I removed you, winged creature, guardian, from among the stones of fire. 17 You exalted yourself because of your beauty and corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I will cast you down to the earth in the sight of kings, and I will make a spectacle of you. 18 Because of your corrupt trade, which surpassed your many other sins, you made your sanctuaries impure. Therefore, I will bring fire from your midst. When it has consumed you, I will turn you into dust on the earth in the sight of all who see you. 19 Everyone among the peoples who knows you will be appalled because of you. You will become a terror. From that time on, you will be nothing.

This scripture account is a difficult one to understand.   The story is about the fall of Satan from Heaven and God’s presence.   Satan had become filled with pride because of who he was and his beauty.   Basically, Satan was “full of himself!”   He had a “tie-tac” too!

It appears from the story that there is only room for one on the throne of Heaven.   In fact, not just one but the Holy One!   This story illustrates for me that regardless of how special we are, God is the only One that is supreme.   Nothing is greater than He is, not even me!   So back to the question at hand; is God my captain or not?    AARRRGGG!

NOTE TO SELF: Joe, get over yourself

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