How Dirty is your towel?
I love it every time I hear Toby Teague preach at an Emmaus Walk event. His talks are clear, simple and concise. But, the thing I like about him most, is how real he is as a pastor, reaching out to the very soul of those who will listen to him.
Last night, at the candlelight service for the Women's walk, he gave a small devotion using towels as a prop. The way he did it, I knew he was thinking about me in particular, because he described everything. He began by telling the story of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, while at Passover with them, the night he was betrayed. He then went on to ask what kind of towel it was Jesus used. Would it be like the guest towels in our house, you know the ones you're told not to touch. He even held up one of those holiday towels for everyone to see.
He then held up a beach towel and talked about how they were used for fun. Would it be that type of towel Jesus would use? Finally, he then asked, if maybe Jesus towel would look like one that had gotten a lot of use. He then held up a dirty old towel he uses for oil changes.
As I listened, I found myself wondering about my faith. I'd like to think I'm reaching out enough. But, am I? Am I doing what I can to bless my Lord and my God, or am I just paying lip service to things around me? I have to believe I'm doing the former. Yet, I also know there are days when I'm doing the latter. Do I depend on God enough to help me with healing, or do I just sort of let the work I'm doing on a client be background noise to my life?
How strange to think we all do that, tend to abuse our faith by calling out to Him, only when we want something, because we want the towels of our life to be clean. Yet, if Jesus were to look at me today, I'd want him to see how dirty my towel was for him. Am I doing enough? Are any of you?
Last night, at the candlelight service for the Women's walk, he gave a small devotion using towels as a prop. The way he did it, I knew he was thinking about me in particular, because he described everything. He began by telling the story of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, while at Passover with them, the night he was betrayed. He then went on to ask what kind of towel it was Jesus used. Would it be like the guest towels in our house, you know the ones you're told not to touch. He even held up one of those holiday towels for everyone to see.
He then held up a beach towel and talked about how they were used for fun. Would it be that type of towel Jesus would use? Finally, he then asked, if maybe Jesus towel would look like one that had gotten a lot of use. He then held up a dirty old towel he uses for oil changes.
As I listened, I found myself wondering about my faith. I'd like to think I'm reaching out enough. But, am I? Am I doing what I can to bless my Lord and my God, or am I just paying lip service to things around me? I have to believe I'm doing the former. Yet, I also know there are days when I'm doing the latter. Do I depend on God enough to help me with healing, or do I just sort of let the work I'm doing on a client be background noise to my life?
How strange to think we all do that, tend to abuse our faith by calling out to Him, only when we want something, because we want the towels of our life to be clean. Yet, if Jesus were to look at me today, I'd want him to see how dirty my towel was for him. Am I doing enough? Are any of you?
posted by Healing Song @ 6:46 AM
2 Comments:
At November 5, 2007 at 7:04 PM ,
Anonymous said...
The towel is a good representation of servanthood I think that is the reason it is so mentioned in the passover story. I often feel I don't reach out enough.
It is easy to live in a wonderful insolated world. My husband is more the servant in our family. I think he wakes up planning to find at least one hundred
and one nice things to do for us each day. He treats other people the same way. I want to be like him when I grow up. He makes each of his customers feel
like he has done them a good service.
Peninnah Fleischer
Thanks for that Peninnah. I thought it a good idea to post that here, as you posted on list your response. You have already grown up far more than you realize.
At November 5, 2007 at 10:08 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Trust me, if any of us, especially I, were to answer yes to the question you
just asked, I'd be worried. The last thing we want to do while we're on
this Earth is assume that we've arrived or that there's nothing we can do
better or more of while we're here. Being in a comfort zone doesn't say
hello. On the other hand, having the wisdom to know when we've done our
part and to rest with our ears and eyes open, waiting for Him to command us
or guide us to our next move is a need that can't be dismissed either. I
hope that I can say that both are the case in my life. The important thing
is to always be aware of Him and what He's doing, and to be willing to obey
when the time comes to make the next move out of our comfort zone.
Rainee, thanks for that
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