Washing Feet

During the next several days I am going to take a closer look at servant leadership. Specifically I am going to look at the ultimate servant leader, Jesus. During these blogs I am going to give you a verse and then I will look at those verses and how they relate to servant leadership.

John 13:5   "After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the desciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded."

Feet are not the prettiest appendage. Back in Jesus time feet were a major way to get around so it isn't surprising that the feet were quite filthy and needed to be washed. Most people didn't wash other people's feet.  Back during this time footwashing was usually reserved for the lowliest of menial servants. In these verses we see Jesus washing the feet of those who were following Him.

How does this relate to servant leadership? According to Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership "Servant leadership is a persons desire or need to serve first then lead later". It is that opportunity to find something to do for other people and not be so self serving. Hours before he was going to be turned over to the authorities and put to death Jesus found it in his heart to serve. He knelt down and served those who were following Him.

Leaders today need to find ways to serve those that follow them. Leadership isn't this great big self serving concept. It really comes down to the ability to find ways to help others despite your circumstances. For Example: A leader of a company finds out that s/he is being let go. Some might take that as a personal affront and have animosity toward the company. Instead I suggest they find ways to make sure those who follow are equipped and ready to proceed without him/her. That is what Jesus was doing He was equipping His disciples with clean feet so they could take the gospel to all corners and be ready to be leaders after Jesus left.

Some questions to ponder:

Are you a foot washing leader? (Are you equipping your people to be leaders)

What are some ways you can serve those who follow you?

Ask God to give you the wisdom needed to be a foot washing leader.