The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

—John 13:14

This is a picture of how Christ cleansed us with his servanthood and sacrificial love. He did not demean us or look at us disdainfully; he lowered himself in humility and did the cleansing for us. Jesus is the only man that ever walked the earth who had no cause for humility. He was God himself in the flesh and would have been perfectly within his rights to destroy us all or demand we bow down and worship him by force. 

Instead, he came in humility.

He died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). He came for those who know they’re not righteous—the sick, not the healthy (Mark 2:17). He prayed for forgiveness for his murderers while still suffering from their wounds on the cross (Luke 23:34).

How much more should we, as the sinners that we are, approach others in humility, servanthood, and sacrificial love? We have no cause to think ourselves better than any other; it’s only through Christ washing us that we are cleansed. We shouldn’t look at the uncleanness of those around us with disdain and disgust, but with compassion and a desire to show them the same loving servanthood Jesus displayed.

Even while living in the middle of painful circumstances others have caused, we can serve them humbly, speak the truth that may lead them out of darkness, and pray they will find forgiveness.

There’s no room for prideful leadership in the body of Christ.

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