What To Do In The Face of Adversity

So picture this…

You’ve spent 3 years with 12 guys. You’ve given them everything you had. You’ve gently guided them. You’ve taught them. You’ve empowered them. You’ve fed them.

Within a matter of hours, you were going to experience a whole host of events and emotions.

These guys would betray, deny, and abandon you. They’d forget just about everything you had taught them.

You were going to experience the greatest pain of your life. The greatest pain in history.
Beaten.
Scorned.
Tortured.
Stabbed.
Ridiculed.
Abandoned.

You knew all of that was going to happen, but instead of throwing in the towel on these men and the people you had come to save, you picked it up.

That’s what Jesus does in John 13…

John 13:2–5 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Did you see that?

Jesus could have thrown in the towel, instead, He picked it up. He had every reason to get down and give up. To throw His hands up and walk away from these men.

Instead He picked up the towel.

Often times, my first reaction when I feel lonely or abandoned or frustrated is to give up.

To give up on people.
To give up on my situation.
To give up on what frustrates me.
To give up on moving ahead.
To even give up on God.

Instead of being someone who throws in the towel in the face of adversity, I want to be someone who picks it up. I think there’s a great lesson in what Jesus does here.

Serving others has a way of stirring us up. It has a way of putting our stuff in perspective and giving us a jolt of energy.

Serving others is what we’re created to do.

Jesus knew that. Jesus taught that.

Even when He could have thrown in the towel, He picked it up.

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