What's been eating your lunch?

We've been running at our usual pace lately. Photo shoots, weddings and client meetings have filled the calendar over the last several months. So much so, that we can count our days off on one hand. It’s in seasons of intense busyness like this that stuff falls through the cracks. We lose sight of certain things and allow important tasks to slip by because there are so many urgent tasks right in front of us.

"If I then, your Lord and Teacher," Jesus said, "have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."

Over the last few days I've been reading through John 13. While I’m aware of the ultimate picture of humility in Christ, I need to be reminded regularly of our call to emulate Christ in serving and loving others. Serving and loving others are about as basic as it gets for a believer, yet remain among the hardest things we’re called to do at times. It's something Jesus did constantly, and something I fail to do pretty much constantly.

"Knowing what one ought to do," Constable said, "and actually doing it, are frequently two different things. Jesus promised God's favor (blessing) on those who practice humble service, not on those who simply realize that they should be humble." If that's not a slap in the face, I don't know what is. That thought hit me like a truck recently. Knowledge isn't my problem 99.9% of the time, obedience is.

I want to be God's man. I desire faithfulness to Christ and God's word, but find it hard more often that I’d like to admit. That's where I need my community guys in my corner, encouraging and pushing me towards not just storing up knowledge but doing something with what I learn. From this text I see that Jesus served and called me to do likewise.

The very first person my abiding with Christ should impact is my wife. And that’s where I have to step up my game. Cleaning around the house, and meeting needs isn't enough. I have to grow in being intentional about how I serve her. I have to stop letting the game come to me and move boldly into the fray.

That’s what’s been eating my lunch of late, what about you? What’s eating your lunch and how do you plan to tackle it in 2017?