By Your Deeds

BY YOUR DEEDS

Part 4 of 12 in Train to Reign Series

John 13:14

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”

Ten year old Cassie changed when she volunteered to serve homeless people food before Christmas. (See EBook Christmas Incarnation, offered at www.BibleStudyForKids.com website). Around age ten, kids begin to think about life. They can do stuff, and don’t think of themselves as little kids anymore.

Cassie is eager to grow up. She wanted to FEEL Christmas this past year. She took seriously Mark 10:45, when Jesus said that He came to serve, and not to be served. She figured that following Jesus was more than just sitting in a church pew listening to sermons on Sunday. Cassie is correct. Christ-like serving is offering oneself to others, just like Jesus did when He washed His disciples’ feet.

In that same EBook, Cassie’s mom Connie washed the dining room floor on her hands and knees. A couple guys had come into the Food Kitchen and threw people’s trays on the floor, just so that other people would suffer like they were suffering. Connie didn’t wait to be asked. She volunteered to help the same day she brought Cassie to serve. True followers of Christ identify needs, then volunteer to meet them.

The key is humility. Sometimes we must stoop down low and get dirty while serving others. Connie didn’t wash the floor so that others would applaud her job. She didn’t expect recognition, but her work won her respect from the diners and the Food Kitchen’s staff. Her smiling face showed her happiness as she and Cassie left that day. Cassie surely noticed her mom’s humble service.

Cassie adopted Philippians 2:6-7’s attitude of Christ’s service from that day. “Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

Cassie never forgot the people at the Food Kitchen. Those people came to eat there because they were hungry and usually, homeless! Cassie began acting out her love for Jesus by serving others ever since that one day of volunteering. Behavior is the best indicator of character.

As the world watches, people are known by their deeds.

Take Home Nugget

Accepting help is very different from serving. John 13:8 shows Peter resisting Jesus’ washing his feet. He was too proud to accept such lowly service from his Teacher and Master. Our behavior is the best indicator of our character. Only when consistent actions back up our words, can our words be believed.

Holy Father, Make my words be backed up with actions, proving they’re more than good-sounding distractions. Amen.

J.D. Griffith

Click here for an Interactive-Online-Lesson for By Your Deeds

A personal, private lesson experience with our staff

Written for www.Biblestudyforkids.com

For FREE Online Bible Study Resources click here.