Be There for Others, But Don’t Lose Yourself

Today's Battle Drill Devotional: Be There for Others, But Don't Lose Yourself

 

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. (John 13:3)

 

Read John 13:1-17. I remember the first time it happened: My sister suddenly declared, “Ooh! That sounds a bit Brummy!” I had been living and working around Birmingham for some years and had finally assimilated some of the accent, it seems!

 

That’s the problem for most of us when we enter other people’s worlds in the name of Jesus: we are in danger of losing our God-given selves in the process. We become like a chameleon: out of fear we no longer say what we prefer to do or voice our opinion. We follow the crowd and lose ourselves in the process.

 

Jesus took on flesh and became a human being. In doing so, he never ceased to be God. Even as he stooped to wash the feet of his disciples, John tells us that Jesus knew that he had come from God, would return to God and that God had given him authority over everything.

 

As we learn to genuinely love others, we also need to hang on to the truth that we have the choice to put boundaries in place. We need to be true to our legitimate interests and desires. In other words, let’s love others, let’s enter their worlds, but hold on to ourselves in the process.

 

THINK IT OVER

How often do you do something you don’t really want to do out of guilt? How could you hold on to your God-given self in these situations?