Get Dirty – The Second Commandment

Get Dirty!

The Second Great Commandment

Matthew 22.38, 39

“This is the great and the first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

John 13.5

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Loving others will cost you something.

This act of removing His outer garment, taking on the wrap of a servant, and bending to a dirty task is a microcosm of Jesus’ entire ministry (cf. Phil. 2.5-11). You can’t serve people from the sidelines. You can’t serve them when you insist on retaining your sense of superiority over others. You can’t serve them if you aren’t willing to take up whatever tools or resources you’ll need for the task. And you can’t serve if you aren’t willing to get a little messy. Their dirt will become your dirt – their hurt your hurt, their loss your loss, their lack your lack – as you begin to reach out to others in love. If getting dirty, being inconvenienced, and setting aside your own agenda in order to enter into the need of others is not your cup of tea, then you have not yet understood the essence of neighbor-love. Jesus left us this example so that we would love one another as He loved His disciples in this situation. Once you begin to be attentive to the needs of others, you’ll be ready to take the next step. It may just require a listening ear, an affirming word, or a simple gesture. On the other hand, it could cost you a long-term investment in the lives of others. Are you ready for that?

Think of the people you’ll see today. What needs come to mind? How might God use you to reach out to these people in their need? Are you willing to be thus used in the cause of love?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.