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Key Bible Verses: "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because that's what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet." (John 13:13-14) Dig Deeper: John 13:1-20

Our power-obsession has trained us to imagine Jesus' movement like a global McDonald's. Millions are served, we think, when franchises of a corporate-like structure spread and crush the competition through market dominance. But pay attention to the way Jesus organized Palestinian peasants: His movement looks more like Al-Qaeda. Of course, Jesus rejects violence. But Al-Qaeda might be the analogy we need to jolt us from our addiction to power and control.

Al-Qaeda reminds us just how powerful tactics can be. Unified by a common understanding of the world, people can gather in cells, beneath the radar of those in power, to begin living a new way of life in the midst of the world as it is.

Jesus offers this tactic: We expose the lie of this world's system by rejecting the greatness it aspires to and worships. We proclaim the goodness of our Father and his economy when we delight to be his children—utterly dependent on God and one another. We celebrate our abundance in God's economy by aspiring to be servants while everyone else is scrambling to get in on the good life.

—Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in God's Economy

My Response: How could I "wash the feet" of a family member? A fellow employee? A friend? Someone I don't get along with?

Thought to Apply: Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.—Abraham Lincoln (16th president)

Adapted from God's Economy (Zondervan, 2009) by permission; All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2010 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

Father in heaven, forgive me for the times I have bought into the values that govern this world; help me to commit myself to values that are eternal.

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