- This is part of a series on the theme of commitment. -

Douglas Rumford makes a profound statement in his book SoulShaping. He writes, “We make our commitments, then our commitments make us. Once they are chosen, many other choices follow as a matter of course.”[1] Once we commit to follow Jesus, many other decisions in life must fall into line or we overturn our prior commitment.

But how are we to know that our commitment to God will be honored? All of the commitments we make should flow from the commitment God has first made to us. Once God committed himself to our highest good, his will toward us was sealed. God tells us that he is committed to all who are in Christ, and that our relationship with him will last forever. Jeremiah 31:31-36 shows us the covenant of commitment the Lord made with his people:

“The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the Lord Almighty is his name: “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.”

- This is part of a series on the theme of servant leadership. -

The act of washing feet certainly does not hold the same cultural significance for us as it did in the first century. So while foot washing may be a humbling gesture and a beautiful religious act, today we can easily miss the pragmatic significance it had with the apostles. Jesus calls us, not to a single act but to a single attitude which may manifest itself in many different ways. In our day it might mean taking out the trash, cleaning bathrooms or changing diapers. “Foot washing” translates into performing lowly tasks which every else avoids because of pride.

Notice that Jesus never calls us to do something that he hasn’t already done for us. Just as he doesn’t call us to love others without having loved us or forgive others without having forgiven us, neither does he invite us to serve others without having already served us. Having loved, forgiven and served us, he now invites us to participate in the ministry of the towel alongside him.

In his book The God of the Towel, Jim McGuiggan outlines the secret of Jesus’ power and ability to surrender:

The Scripture tells us [Jesus] had a number of things on his mind. Telling us over and over what “Jesus knew,” John wants the reader to understand that Christ does what he does in light of his knowing and loving.

Jesus knew that the hour he had come into the world to meet had finally arrived – the hour of betrayal, the hour of incredible inner turmoil, the hour of national rejection and sin-bearing.

Jesus knew that the Father had unchangeably purposed to give all authority and control to him – authority beyond the wildest dreams of the greatest megalomaniac.

Jesus knew that he had come out from God – he was fully aware of his divine origin. He had understood this even as a twelve-year-old boy, and a short but full life had not shaken that conviction – rather, it had strengthened it.

Jesus knew he was going back to the Father – this was his divine destination. He knew he faced treachery, humiliation, desertion, and the Cross, but he also knew that he would return to glory with his Father.[1]

God has gone to great lengths to provide a basis for us to know our security, identity and destiny. In the Bible we read that nothing can separate those of us who are in Christ from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). We also read that those of us who have surrendered to this great love of God are now the children of God (1 John 3:1). Finally, the Bible assures us that as children of God, we will one day be taken away to be with Jesus in the Father’s house forever (John 14:2-3).

Like Jesus, we may be secure in our identity and destiny. In fact, it is only to the extent we grasp these same concepts that we will be able to serve others as Christ did. On the other hand, the more insecure we are in our true identity and eternal destiny, the more likely we are to manipulate people in a desperate attempt to get our needs met.

• Jesus never calls us to do something that he hasn’t already done for us.

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- This is the conclusion of a series of highlights from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers -

• Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on memories; let the word of God be always living and active in you. 135

• The unfathomable sadness of the “might have been”. Never be afraid when God brings back the past. Let memory have its way. It is a minister of God with its rebuke and chastisement and sorrow. God will turn the “might have been” into a wonderful culture for the future. 94

• The initiative against despair—let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistible future with Him. Never let the sense of failure corrupt your new action. 49

• Our present enjoyment of God’s grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ. Leave the irreparable past in His hands, and step out into the irresistible future with Him. 366

• There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. 53

• God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

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- This is part of a series on the theme of servant leadership. -

While much is being said these days about servant leadership, it is far from a new concept. In fact, we can find its roots deeply imbedded in the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation we see a steady stream of leaders who use their position and power for the greater good of those around them. Clearly, nobody demonstrated this better than Jesus of Nazareth, and there is no time he more clearly modeled the virtue of servant leadership than on the night prior to his crucifixion.

As they entered the upper room, the disciples got into a little fray about their prospective positions. The argument was likely kindled over who was to sit closest to Jesus. Undoubtedly they neglected Jesus’ six-month-old advice to the Pharisees about sitting in the lowest positions rather than elbowing one’s way up the table (Luke 14:7-11).

Jesus had just given a verbal response to the disciples’ debate about who was the greatest (Luke 22:24-30). Next came his visual response. He said that he came as one who served and not as one who sits at the table (Luke 22:27). The astonished disciples then learned the truth of these words. Alone with his disciples in a room in Jerusalem, Jesus did the unthinkable. While the disciples settled into their prospective cushions and the Passover meal was being served, Jesus unpretentiously rose from the table and wrapped himself with a towel.

The evening meal was being served…. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

John 13:2-5

When there was no servant to carry out the custom of foot washing, Jesus assumed the role. The Master became the servant. The greatest and most high became the least and the lowest. In one stunning act, Jesus demonstrated that in the kingdom of God, service is not the path to greatness; service is greatness. Here the divine perspective shines through and appears to our disoriented minds as upside-down.

Author M. Scott Peck was so struck by this scene that he counts it as one of the most significant events of Jesus’ life:

Until that moment the whole point of things had been for someone to get on top, and once he had gotten on top to stay on top or else attempt to get farther up. But here this man already on top – who was rabbi, teacher, master – suddenly got down on bottom and began to wash the feet of his followers. In that one act Jesus symbolically overturned the whole social order. Hardly comprehending what was happening, even his own disciples were almost horrified by his behavior.[1]

Jesus was able to assume the position of servant because he was secure in himself. He knew who he was and where he was going. But Jesus also served his disciples because he loved them. The first verse of the chapter says, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” While these two reasons would be adequate in and of themselves, the Lord had another reason for his actions.

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. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 13:12-17

The Lord didn’t tell them to do “what” he had done. He commanded them to do “as” he had done. They weren’t to become full-time foot-washers, but rather full-time servants of men and women. They were to be servant leaders. John Calvin was right in saying, “Christ does not enjoin an annual ceremony here, but tells us to be ready, all through our life, to wash the feet of our brethren.” Far from meaning that we are to wash feet literally, Christ means for us to live a life of love, and of humble and sacrificial service.[2]

[2] John Calvin, The Gospel According to St. John 11-21 (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1961), p. 60, comment on John 13:14.

• The Lord didn’t tell them to do “what” he had done. He commanded them to do “as” he had done.

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- This is part of a series of highlights from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers -

• Faith must be tested, because it can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. 242

• Troubles nearly always make us look to God; His blessings are apt to make us look elsewhere. 22

• Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. Always guard against self-chosen service for God; self-sacrifice may be a disease. If you are not living in touch with Him, it is easy to pass a crude verdict on God. You must go through the crucible before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because in the crucible you learn to know God better. 316

• God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new friendship He reveals the plague of our own hearts. 13

• We are not quite prepared for the blows which must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. The batterings always come in commonplace ways and through commonplace people. 278

• You cannot receive your self in success, you lose your head; you cannot receive your self in monotony, you grouse. The way to find your self is in the fires of sorrow. 177

• Troubles nearly always make us look to God; His blessings are apt to make us look elsewhere.

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- This is part of a series on the theme of servant leadership. -

One of professional sports’ most legendary coaches, Pat Riley has motivated, taught and inspired his way up the NBA managerial ranks. He exemplifies what it means to be a leader, and athletes and businessmen alike could all learn something from this accomplished basketball mind. The driving force behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ memorable “Showtime” era, Riley took Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the rest of the high-flying team to four NBA titles in nine years. He is the second winningest coach in NBA history and the fastest manager in any of the four major professional sports to reach 1,000 wins. In his book, The Winner Within, the outstanding NBA coach, wrote about the “danger of me.” He said,

The most difficult thing for individuals to do when they’re part of the team is to sacrifice. It’s so easy to become selfish in a team environment. To play for me. It’s very vulnerable to drop your guard and say, “This is who I am and I’m gonna open up and give of myself to you.” But that’s exactly what you’ve got to do. Willingness to sacrifice is the great paradox. You must give up something in the immediate present – comfort, ease, recognition, quick rewards – to attract something even better in the future.[1]

What Riley says is true on the basketball court is also true in life. Serving others can be tough; expending your energies and resources in the interest of others can be exhausting. Yet the most effective leaders are servants.

• The most difficult thing for individuals to do wen they’re part of the team is to sacrifice.

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- This is part of a series on the theme of purpose and passion. -

In his popular book The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren articulates the importance of translating our purpose into practical strategies.  Among other things, he suggests the following:

• Program around your purposes.  Design a program to fulfill each of your purposes.

• Educate your people on purpose.  Change doesn’t happen by chance; it occurs as leaders cultivate settings and procedures that facilitate the education of those they serve.

• Start small groups on purpose.  Rather than forcing everyone to conform to a “one size fits all” mentality, he urges people to choose the type of small group that best fits their needs.

• Add staff on purpose.  Rather than just hiring people who possess character and competence, he urges leaders to look for staff with a passion for the purpose of the church.  People are self-motivated about an area where they have passion.

• Structure on purpose.  Develop structures or teams that work together to systematically fulfill the purpose of the church.

• Evaluate on purpose.  Consistent effectiveness in an ever-changing world requires continual evaluation.  Warren notes that “in a purpose driven church, your purposes are the standard by which you evaluate effectiveness.”[1]

There is a lot of talk about vision in leadership circles these days and rightly so.  However, much of the organizational malaise found in companies, churches and families is not caused by a lack of vision but by a lack of strategy.  If we fail to strategize according to an overarching purpose, we will never accomplish the things God wants for us.

The overall purpose of our lives must match up with his agenda.  Otherwise, we will live out our lives in frustration and futility.  God has structured reality so that when he is honored first and foremost, satisfaction comes as a byproduct.  May he grant us the courage and grace to honor him in all our ways.

• Much of the organizational malaise found in companies, churches and families is not caused by a lack of vision but by a lack of strategy.

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- This is part of a series of highlights from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers -

• Either Jesus Christ is the supreme Authority on the human heart, or He is not worth paying any attention to. He understood the terrible possibilities that are in the heart. 208

• It is astounding how ignorant we are about ourselves! 12

• Most of us are much sterner with others than we are in regard to ourselves; we make excuses for things in ourselves whilst we condemn in others things to which we are not naturally inclined. 340

• When I get into the presence of God, I do not realize that I am a sinner in an indefinite sense; I realize the concentration of sin in a particular feature of my life. 185

• I have never met the man I could despair of after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God. 169

• When I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man—the very thing Jesus means it to do. The bedrock in Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility—I cannot begin to do it. The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works. 203

• It is not a question of our equipment but of our poverty, not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us. The comradeship of God is made up out of men who know their poverty. The main thing about Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the atmosphere produced by that relationship. 217

• The thing I am blessed in is my poverty. If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says—Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter His Kingdom. I cannot enter His Kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper. 234

• The comradeship of God is made up out of people who know their poverty.

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- This is part of a series of highlights from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers -

• Being ambitious only to be pleasing to Him. I have to learn to relate everything to the master ambition, and to maintain it without any cessation. My worth to God in public is what I am in private. 77

• The danger of taking the pattern and print of the religious age we live in, making eyes at spiritual success. Never court anything other than the approval of God. One life wholly devoted to God is of more value to God than one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit. 115

• If I put my trust in human beings first, I will end in despairing of everyone; I will become bitter, because I have insisted on man being what no man ever can be—absolutely right. Never trust anything but the grace of God in yourself or in anyone else. 152

• Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life. I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself. 337

• My worth to God in public is what I am in private.

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- This is part of a series of highlights from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers -

• Beware of the inclination to dictate to God as to what you will allow to happen if you obey Him. 11

• Many of us are loyal to our notions of Jesus Christ, but how many of us are loyal to Him? Loyalty to Jesus means I have to step out where I do not see anything (cf. Matt. 14:29); loyalty to my notions means that I clear the ground first by my intelligence. Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way. 88

• God cannot reveal anything to us if we have not His Spirit. An obstinate outlook will effectually hinder God from revealing anything to us. 98

• My vision of God depends upon the state of my character. Character determines revelation. 195

• Make room for God to come in as He chooses. Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His surprising power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes. 25

• All God’s revelations are sealed until they are opened to us by obedience. You will never get them open by philosophy or thinking. Obey God in the thing He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up. God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already. 284

• If a man cannot get through to God it is because there is a secret thing he does not intend to give up. 354

• The golden rule for understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience. Intellectual darkness comes through ignorance; spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to obey. No man ever receives a word from God without instantly being put to the test over it. 209

• You cannot think a spiritual muddle clear, you have to obey it clear. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will think yourself into cotton wool. Spiritual muddle is only made plain by obedience. 258

• Vision depends on character—the pure in heart see God. Not only must the inner sanctuary be kept right with God, but the outer courts as well are to be brought into perfect accord with the purity God gives us by His grace. The spiritual understanding is blurred immediately the outer court is sullied. 86

• The grace you had yesterday will not do for today. 178

• We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save ourselves nor sanctify ourselves, God does that; but God will not give us good habits, He will not give us character, He will not make us walk aright. 131

• Nothing is a light matter with a child of God. You cannot have a moral holiday and remain moral, nor can you have a spiritual holiday and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely His, and this means that you have to watch to keep yourself fit. 106

• Keep yourself steadily faced by the judgment seat of Christ. One carnal judgment, and the end of it is hell in you. The penalty of sin is that gradually you get used to it and do not know that it is sin. 76

• Never allow a truth of God that is brought home to your soul to pass without acting on it, not necessarily physically, but in will. 309

• My vision of God depends upon the state of my character. Character determines revelation.

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