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Elevation of Glarus, Switzerland. Photo by Charles F. Stanley.

Daily Devotion

A True Servant

Jesus, our example in all things, chose to serve others—even those He knew would desert Him.

February 11, 2025

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1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God,

4 got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

6 So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, ``Lord, do You wash my feet?"

7 Jesus answered and said to him, ``What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter."

8 Peter said to Him, ``Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, ``If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."

9 Simon Peter said to Him, ``Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head."

10 Jesus said to him, ``He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you. "

11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, ``Not all of you are clean."

12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, ``Do you know what I have done to you?

13 ``You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.

14 ``If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

15 ``For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.

Numbers 8

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 ``Speak to Aaron and say to him, `When you mount the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in the front of the lampstand.'"

3 Aaron therefore did so; he mounted its lamps at the front of the lampstand, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

4 Now this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold; from its base to its flowers it was hammered work; according to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

5 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

6 ``Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel and cleanse them.

7 ``Thus you shall do to them, for their cleansing: sprinkle purifying water on them, and let them use a razor over their whole body and wash their clothes, and they will be clean.

8 ``Then let them take a bull with its grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and a second bull you shall take for a sin offering.

9 ``So you shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,

10 and present the Levites before the LORD; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.

11 ``Aaron then shall present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the sons of Israel, that they may qualify to perform the service of the LORD.

12 ``Now the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; then offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites.

13 ``You shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and before his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the LORD.

14 ``Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine.

15 ``Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and present them as a wave offering;

16 for they are wholly given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself instead of every first issue of the womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel.

17 ``For every firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the men and among the animals; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself.

18 ``But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.

19 ``I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no plague among the sons of Israel by their coming near to the sanctuary."

20 Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the sons of Israel to the Levites; according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them.

21 The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.

22 Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons; just as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

23 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

24 ``This is what applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting.

25 ``But at the age of fifty years they shall retire from service in the work and not work any more.

26 ``They may, however, assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, to keep an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. Thus you shall deal with the Levites concerning their obligations."

Numbers 9

1 Thus the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

2 ``Now, let the sons of Israel observe the Passover at its appointed time.

3 ``On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time; you shall observe it according to all its statutes and according to all its ordinances."

4 So Moses told the sons of Israel to observe the Passover.

5 They observed the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did.

6 But there were some men who were unclean because of the dead person, so that they could not observe Passover on that day; so they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.

7 Those men said to him, `` Though we are unclean because of the dead person, why are we restrained from presenting the offering of the LORD at its appointed time among the sons of Israel?"

8 Moses therefore said to them, ``Wait, and I will listen to what the LORD will command concerning you."

9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

10 ``Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, `If any one of you or of your generations becomes unclean because of a dead person, or is on a distant journey, he may, however, observe the Passover to the LORD.

11 `In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight, they shall observe it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

12 `They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; according to all the statute of the Passover they shall observe it.

13 `But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and yet neglects to observe the Passover, that person shall then be cut off from his people, for he did not present the offering of the LORD at its appointed time. That man will bear his sin.

14 `If an alien sojourns among you and observes the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have one statute, both for the alien and for the native of the land.'"

15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was erected the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony, and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle, until morning.

16 So it was continuously; the cloud would cover it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

17 Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the tent, afterward the sons of Israel would then set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the sons of Israel would camp.

18 At the command of the LORD the sons of Israel would set out, and at the command of the LORD they would camp; as long as the cloud settled over the tabernacle, they remained camped.

19 Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the sons of Israel would keep the LORD'S charge and not set out.

20 If sometimes the cloud remained a few days over the tabernacle, according to the command of the LORD they remained camped. Then according to the command of the LORD they set out.

21 If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was lifted in the morning, they would move out; or if it remained in the daytime and at night, whenever the cloud was lifted, they would set out.

22 Whether it was two days or a month or a year that the cloud lingered over the tabernacle, staying above it, the sons of Israel remained camped and did not set out; but when it was lifted, they did set out.

23 At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out; they kept the LORD'S charge, according to the command of the LORD through Moses.

Numbers 10

1 The LORD spoke further to Moses, saying,

2 ``Make yourself two trumpets of silver, of hammered work you shall make them; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for having the camps set out.

3 ``When both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

4 ``Yet if only one is blown, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall assemble before you.

5 ``But when you blow an alarm, the camps that are pitched on the east side shall set out.

6 ``When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are pitched on the south side shall set out; an alarm is to be blown for them to set out.

7 ``When convening the assembly, however, you shall blow without sounding an alarm.

8 ``The priestly sons of Aaron, moreover, shall blow the trumpets; and this shall be for you a perpetual statute throughout your generations.

9 ``When you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the LORD your God, and be saved from your enemies.

10 ``Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your God."

11 Now in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony;

12 and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.

13 So they moved out for the first time according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.

14 The standard of the camp of the sons of Judah, according to their armies, set out first, with Nahshon the son of Amminadab, over its army,

15 and Nethanel the son of Zuar, over the tribal army of the sons of Issachar;

16 and Eliab the son of Helon over the tribal army of the sons of Zebulun.

17 Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who were carrying the tabernacle, set out.

18 Next the standard of the camp of Reuben, according to their armies, set out with Elizur the son of Shedeur, over its army,

19 and Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai over the tribal army of the sons of Simeon,

20 and Eliasaph the son of Deuel was over the tribal army of the sons of Gad.

21 Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy objects; and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival.

22 Next the standard of the camp of the sons of Ephraim, according to their armies, was set out, with Elishama the son of Ammihud over its army,

23 and Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur over the tribal army of the sons of Manasseh;

24 and Abidan the son of Gideoni over the tribal army of the sons of Benjamin.

25 Then the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan, according to their armies, which formed the rear guard for all the camps, set out, with Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai over its army,

26 and Pagiel the son of Ochran over the tribal army of the sons of Asher;

27 and Ahira the son of Enan over the tribal army of the sons of Naphtali.

28 This was the order of march of the sons of Israel by their armies as they set out.

29 Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, ``We are setting out to the place of which the LORD said, `I will give it to you'; come with us and we will do you good, for the LORD has promised good concerning Israel."

30 But he said to him, ``I will not come, but rather will go to my own land and relatives."

31 Then he said, ``Please do not leave us, inasmuch as you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will be as eyes for us.

32 ``So it will be, if you go with us, that whatever good the LORD does for us, we will do for you."

33 Thus they set out from the mount of the LORD three days' journey, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD journeying in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place for them.

34 The cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

35 Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, ``Rise up, O LORD! And let Your enemies be scattered, And let those who hate You flee before You."

36 When it came to rest, he said, ``Return, O LORD, To the myriad thousands of Israel."

John 13:1-15

When you hear the word success, what do you think of—wealth? power? How do you think God defines success? Micah 6:8 says this: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

And with Christ as our example, we should strive to be like Him. In today’s passage, we see how Jesus served. He performed the task of the lowliest servant when He took off His outer garment and washed the dirty feet of His followers—the very followers He knew would abandon Him. The next day, the Creator was crucified by people made in His image. In allowing this, He offered salvation to all—even those who nailed Him to a cross.

And Jesus asks that we follow His example of service. With the exception of Judas, His disciples obeyed. In fact, they all suffered because of their faith, many unto death.

Though we likely won’t endure what they did, ask the Lord how He is calling you to serve. In what ways do you spend your resources and time? And which topics dominate your thoughts and conversation? Service is a natural overflow of a relationship with Jesus. Ask Him to foster a servant’s attitude in your heart.

Bible in One Year: Numbers 8-10