'No' Is Not An Option

John 13:6-8 “He come to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.” “You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.”  ~CSB
 
We must be careful not to tell God what we or He, ‘won’t’ do. For all things God directs us to do, there is a reason from Him and by Him, that we are directed to do what He tells us to do. He is in control and part of that control is us doing our part in obedience.
 
For example, no matter what the actions of others are we must love them. They are God’s children as well. Now I know that can be an issue in today’s time. But the issue is not bigger than God. His command in John 15:12 says, “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” The sacrifice of the Son is the greatest example of God’s love for us. We must follow our Father’s example.
 
Another example comes from deep down in our soul when someone hurts us to the point of our lives stopping. We have that feeling that nothing is important. We don’t wake up ‘ready to go’ anymore after being hurt that bad. But I’m here to tell you that we serve a God that loves us no matter what we have been through. We are protected to the point where God can heal us of that pain and allow us to use that pain to save someone else as He has saved us. The beginning of that healing is when we forgive. 
 
For some of us it is so hard to forgive. But how can we tell God ‘No’ when he tells us that we must forgive? The Word says in Luke 6:37, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.”
 
No matter what we ‘think’ we see, we must spiritually know and trust God in this knowledge that this situation in front of us is God’s plan, not ours. Discern the difference between knowing with all your heart and what feelings are triggered by the flesh. Peter meant well in his response to Jesus washing his feet, but that feeling was triggered by his flesh, not his spirit. Tony Evans said this about Jesus:
 
“He had spent three years with the Twelve--teaching them, leading them, praying for them, loving them. He had done everything for them that He had come to do.”
 
As His time had come, it was time for Him to teach them one more lesson and that was in ‘humility’.  Jesus with all His power came to serve, and that is the lesson He wanted to teach His disciples in washing their feet, to serve one another. In the service of others we must trust in the lesson God teaches us daily.
 
When we tell God ‘no’, we are like Peter telling Jesus, he won’t allow Him to wash his feet. Jesus tells us as well as Peter in His response, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”  Allow God to teach, so that we may always be a part of His plan for our lives. 
 
Jesus says in verse 7, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.” Trust in the Lord and watch the work He does in you to affect all around you. May God continue to protect, heal and guide you in Jesus’ name,
 
Amen

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