Growing in Character
By June Rush
Jesus desires that we never shirk from doing any task that is set before us, no matter how lowly.
As I read John 15:2-17 and John 13:2, I am caught up in the drama of what is happening. The time is just before the Passover Feast. The evening meal was being served and Jesus, alone with His disciples, quietly arose and removed his robe. His followers, reclining on couches at the meal table, looked on, mystified, as he wrapped a towel around his waist, and knelt to wash their feet; gently drying them on the towel.
When Jesus came to Peter, that impetuous disciple, vehemently protested. “No, Lord, you are not going to wash my feet”. Peter could not bear the thought of his beloved Master doing a slave’s work. But Jesus softly answered, “If I don’t wash your feet, you have no part with me Listen, and you will understand what I am doing.”
I can visualize the look of compassion Jesus faced his disciples with after He completed the task and put on His robe. Then He explained, “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” (John 13:14-16).
Thus in this moving, dramatic moment, Jesus gave His followers a lesson in humility and character development, showing them the extent of His great love for mankind. Knowing His hour of suffering and death was near, Jesus wanted them to know in what ways, and how much, they were to love and serve one another, as He loved and served them.
By our Lord’s actions, in today’s world, we are all taught that to be leaders for Christ, we must first have the attitude of a servant, which develops Godly character. Like Jesus Christ we are to serve one another humbly and willingly.
We may be reluctant to go out into the world as Jesus did. We hesitate at the idea of taking care of those who are lonely, forgotten, shunned by society, or those who have lost their spiritual way. Most of us possess a vanity that recoils at any kind of servitude, which helps us to grow in the character of God.
 But how we love to be served. Jim stretches out in lazy abandon on the sofa and calls to his wife, who is struggling to care for the baby, while also preparing dinner “Bring me a cup of coffee, will you, hon?” Or, Lisa, late for a date, after wasting time talking on the phone to her best friend, says, “Iron my blouse, please Mom.”
It is human nature to think only of ourselves, our comfort zone, and to want things done for us. We are inclined to believe that being a servant is somehow belittling. We wrinkle our noses in disdain at the idea of kneeling to wash someone else’s feet, especially, dusty, unwashed, callused sandal clad feet.
In order to grow in Godly character, it is important to remember in great detail the night Jesus took on a servant’s heart. Jesus desires that we never shirk from any task He sets before us, no matter how lowly. Instead we are to make the most of any opportunity to serve, as one woman in Northern California did. Concerned about the plight of women drug addicts, who wanted to be rid of the evil habit, but had no place to go, she took her own money to establish and maintain a halfway house for them. It entailed hardship and deprivation, but this woman had the satisfaction of fulfilling a need, and growing in character as she did so.
Many people feel uncomfortable around those with mental disabilities, but one woman in a northern California church cares for such groups each week. Although she is no longer young, she has undertaken a task that no one else wishes to assume. She has weekly luncheons for twenty to thirty or more individuals of varying stages of restoration. Although it is difficult taking care of such a group, the woman feels rewarded by their responses.
In another example, a woman left her well to do lifestyle to become a nurse and spent the next forty years on the lower eastside of New York City, caring for the poor. A dedicated doctor left a thriving practice to serve in a third world country mission’s hospital.
These are just a few examples of people who grow in character by humbling themselves to serve others who are less fortunate.
Our own acts of service may be as far reaching. They may be quiet simple deeds. We may do more than baby-sit for a new mother who has no one to help her or scrub the floors of a homebound elderly person. It is in such ways that we clothe ourselves in humility. Humility develops character.
First Peter 5:5, “Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” Proverbs 3:34, “He mocks proud mockers, but gives grace to the humble.”
Christ did not fear to mingle with prostitutes and other outcasts of society, or to be with the sick and diseased. Why then should we shrink back when we should be reaching out in whatever way we can to comfort the ill and hurting? Befriend those who are scorned and forgotten by society? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:19, “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible to Christ Jesus.”
Are we growing in the character of God today by fulfilling our duties of carrying someone else’s burdens? Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each others burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Jesus expects us to humbly, yet vigorously follow the course He has laid out for us in His days on earth. As we read and obey the Word of God with a servant’s heart, we demonstrate how Christ, through us, washes the feet of those the world washes it’s hands of. By humbling ourselves to do the things that seem lowly, we are growing into the character God wants us to have for eternity.
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