Today’s Devotion
Topic: We Will Always Understand Better By and By!
Text: John 13: 1- 7 (ESV)
1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist.
5 Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Amen
Beloved, you realise from the passage above that Jesus decided to set an example for the disciples He loved by washing their feet. He was demonstrating to them the most important lesson of serving one another if we claim to be born of God and to be a people who love one other — A lesson that could never be best taught except by practical demonstration. And that is exactly what Jesus did.
However, today’s discussion will not be dwelling so much on the ‘lesson of serving one another’, but rather, on the lesson that we cultivate the habit of trusting whatever Jesus happens to be doing in our lives even if we do not fully understand what He’s up to and why.
You see, although Jesus never told Peter what He was about to do, the latter perceived that Jesus was coming to wash his feet and easily concluded that it was going to be very inappropriate, based on logic, for the student to allow his Master to wash his feet. Peter therefore immediately asked the Lord in hesitation, “Lord, do you wash my feet?
Obviously, that was what the Lord was about to do. But that act had a greater significance than Peter’s mind could comprehend at the time. So Jesus said, “… you will not understand now but afterwards, you will.”
Most times we can perceive that the Lord is up to something great in our lives, though we never seem to be able to place our hands on exactly what He’s doing. In times like that, always remember that whatever Jesus does in our lives stems out of pure love, therefore can never harm or disappoint in the end. Secondly, remember that the Father has placed all things into His hands so that you can trust Him for who He is and what He does.
Meditate on this word. Think about all the other times you felt everything was going so wrong in your life, yet it was God Himself working out something beautiful for you, and begin to pray for patience. Also, remember the shock and awe you felt the very day you understood exactly what the Lord had been doing, and give Him praise for all you might be going through right now; knowing very well that these ones too shall work together shortly for your good.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you fully trust in Him, even when you don’t seem to understand what He is up to in your life. We always understand better afterwards, right? It looks like we will always understand better by and by.
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