| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 21 |
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“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” There are many things which Christ does which at the time we cannot understand. They seem mysterious to us. Yet afterwards we shall see the reason for them and find beauty in them. This is true of many of the providences of our lives. At one time Jacob said, “All these things are against me” (Gen. 42:36). But he lived to see that the very things which he thought were against him were really working for His good. So it always is in the dealings of God with His people. We cannot understand now, but someday we shall know. “The tapestry weavers do their work on the reverse side, looking at the ends and threads, a mystery of tangle and confusion, but not seeing the beautiful picture they are making on the other side. So we are weaving our lives largely on the reverse side.” Some day we shall look on the beauty we are unconsciously making in our life today.
There was something generous in Peter’s outspoken feeling that he could not allow the holy hands of Christ to wash his feet. It showed his thought of the glory of Christ and his sense of his own unworthiness. But the answer of Jesus was startling. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” It was not merely the washing of the feet to which Jesus referred. Cleanliness is a virtue, no doubt, and a duty as well; but discipleship could not be made to turn on anything so incidental. This word of Christ implies among other things that no one can be a disciple who insists upon having his own way. Utter self-surrender is the essential condition. We must put ourselves wholly in Christ’s hands, and must do just as He bids us, or we can have no part with Him. It is not ours to reason why, or to make any reply — it is ours only to obey. Especially must this word of Christ be considered in its reference to spiritual cleansing. Unless Christ wash us, we can have no part with Him. No one can be a disciple until he has been cleansed, and only Christ can cleanse us. Some people profess to take Christ as a teacher who yet feel no need of being washed by Him. We must understand that this word is final — that Jesus will receive no disciples who do not submit to Him first to be cleansed by Him. The picture of Jesus with the basin is one of wonderful suggestiveness. He must come to all of us first in this way — that He may wash us.
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