Pay It Forward

READ: John 13:3-15

---------------------------
I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. -John 13:15
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:

• 2 Chrinicles 17-18
• John 13:1-20

Pay It Forward is a movie about a 12-year-old's plan to make a difference in the world. Motivated by a teacher at his school, Trevor invites a homeless man to sleep in his garage. Unaware of this arrangement, his mother awakens one evening to find the man working on her truck. Holding him at gunpoint, she asks him to explain himself. He shows her that he has successfully repaired her truck and tells her about Trevor's kindness. He says, "I'm just paying it forward."
I think this is what Jesus had in mind in one of His last conversations with His disciples. He wanted to show them the full extent of His love. So before their last meal together, He took off His outer garment, wrapped a feet. This was shocking because only slaves washed feet. It was an act of servanthood and a symbol that pointed to Jesus' sacrifice, passion, and humiliation on the cross. His request to His disciples was: "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14). They were to "pay it forward."
Imagine how different our world would look if we gave the kind of love to others that God has given us through Jesus. -Marvin Williams

Christ's example teaches us
That we should follow Him each day,
Meeting one another's needs,
Though humble service be the way. -Hess
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To know love, open your heart to Jesus.
To show love, open your heart to others.

Holy Fools

READ: Genesis 12:1-5

-------------------------------
If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. - Mark 9:23
------------------------------------------------

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:

• 2 Chronicles 15-16
• John 12:27-50

When God spoke to Abram, he obeyed at once, departing for an unknown land based only on a promise. Childless, he trusted God to make of him "a great nation" (Gen. 12:2)
God often does His work through "holy fools" -dreamers who strike out in ridiculous faith. Yet I tend to approach my decisions with calculation and restraint.
My church in Chicago once scheduled an all-night vigil of prayer during a major crisis. At length we discussed the practicality of the event before finally putting it on the calendar. The poorest members of the congregation, a group of senior citizens from a housing project, responded the most enthusiastically. I wondered how many of their prayers had gone unanswered over the years, yet they showed a childlike trust in the power of prayer. "How long do you want to stay-an hour or two?" we asked, thinking of van shuttles. "Oh, we'll stay all night," they replied.
One woman in her 90s explained, "We can pray. We got time, and we got faith. Some of us don't sleep much anyway. We can pray all night if needs be." And so they did.
Meanwhile, a bunch of yuppies in a downtown church leaned an important lesson: Faith often appears where least expected an falters where it ought to thrive. -Philip Yancey

Faith looks across the storm-it does not doubt
Or stop to look at clouds and things without.
Faith does not question why when all His ways
Are hard to understand, but trusts and prays. -Anon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prayer is the voice of faith.