Finger Pointing
“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:15 ESV
Example – How many times have you searched all over to find something and then discovered that it was in plain slight? My wife often points out that when I go to the refrigerator to look for something she needs for cooking, my eyes just don’t see what should be obvious. I say, “I can’t find it.” She responds, “It’s right in front of your face. See!” and with one finger she directs my attention to the very thing I was trying to find. Having the ability to see does not mean that we actually take in the image and understand it. Sometimes seeing is blind.
Yeshua knew that it took deliberate, tangible expressions of love in order to communicate. By washing the feet of the disciples, he pointed to something that they should have seen easily but they were not ready to understand. God’s love is expressed in humility and service. The Greek word here has the sense of setting something plainly in view. But it also communicates something else. Hupodeigma comes from hupo and deiknuo (the Greek group of deikymi). Hupo means “under or beneath.” Deiknuo means “to point out, to cause to see.” The idea is to put something under scrutiny in a way that will cause understanding. But isn’t it interesting that the very word used for “example” begins with the thought of “putting under” – humility.
If we are going to be living pointers to God’s love, we will have to take actions in life that open the eyes of others. These are not ambiguous or concealed behaviors. They are deliberate, open expressions of humility and service. They need to be the kind of actions that cause others to say, “Did you see what he did?” or “Look at her!” The kind of actions that caused the people of Yeshua’s day to glorify God. Stop sign actions.
Followers who live according to Yeshua’s example put God in plain sight. They point to His care and His character. Seeing what they do means that the presence of God can’t be missed. But it doesn’t mean, “See me!” We must become the finger that points to something else. No one looks at the finger pointing. They look at what the finger points to. The finger is just the indicator of something else. That’s what it means to be an example. Be a finger pointer. Be the invisible direction signal toward Him. Act in such a way that others look where you point, not at you at all.
And it all begins with “under.”
Topical Index: pointing, hupodeigma, example, John 13:15
CORRECTION: You probably figured it out already but yesterday’s edition should have read “Sounds good, but what about all those who seem to be doing what God asks and yet they are NOT in alignment with the Torah”
When I was young, I was told to look for the best in another, not the worst.
Now that I am older, I know that it goes further than that. Not only am I to look for the face of my Saviour in everyone I see, I am to look for ways to bring it to the front.
If they are sad, then I am to sympathize with them as if God Himself were crying. If they are confused, then I am to look for ways to help them see a way out of their thicket that encourage them that they actually do have the ability to keep a clear mind, and show them how, if they don’t think they know. Expect that everyone can live in the light of God’s love, and that they never have to feel that it is all up to them, and that they are alone. That when they stay in love, they are always good enough. And where the love place is. And how to stay there. This is called edifying. I don’t think we have a newer word in present English that expresses what that word means. But I have also noticed that we don’t use it much, either, if at all. Why? Is the act of edifying something we have forgotten? The act of seeing the face of Yeshua in those around us, and handing them a mirror so they can see it too?
I was taught the story of the Cobbler, by Tolstoy, when I was small. The poor cobbler dreamed that Jesus Christ came to him and said that He would visit him. So he prepared all his meager resources to entertain Him, but ended up using them to entertain other poor people in need, instead. Discouraged, he slept again and dreamed that Christ returned and told him that the people he had helped WAS Himself.
“If ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me.”
If I am to show God to others around me who do not know Him, the one way that they will not miss if I show them how to find Him in themselves; show them what Love would say to them, be in them; show them that place, and remove for them, even just for a moment, what lies in the way. The only way to know Love, or even to know It exists, is to experience it. But because love is something that happens BETWEEN lovers, then we have to awaken it in others by doing it to them, and invest the faith that they will be able to supply the other half.
I didn’t really believe God existed, in any real way, until His love touched my heart. And that did not happen until He sent Himself into my life inside the skin of other people who had the desire to share Him; who saw something in me to love, and showed me what that was. Who was it that said “Only by love is love awakened”? Here, within love, is where the God of Love is truly to be found.
Inspiring post, Skip. Thank you so much. Thank you for edifying me on a daily basis, and showing me ever more ways to view my Redeemer, and serve Him. And thank you for also being a faithful servant to His Body; for magnetizing a goodly cluster. Who knows? Anytime now we may reach critical mass and just explode! LOL!
Laurita, this is so beautiful and true. And so so SO hard. Maybe it comes easier with practice? I hope. 🙂
Edification is listed as a gift of the Holy Spirit. We haven’t a clue as to what it is or how to do it, but neither do we have to. It is a thing to be asked for; a gift to be granted. It gets given to us as we see the need for it in another. How do we see that need? We haven’t a clue as to how to see those needs either, but not to worry: seeing needs is called discernment. It is a thing to be asked for: a gift to be granted. It gets given to us upon request as we see a need for it in ourselves. And what if there are physical needs to be edified in another? What if there are agreements with sin to be recognized and repented so the refreshing may come? Discernment is offered so that we can know for ourselves and others what is amiss, and how to amend it. Healing and miracles are offered to be asked for so that none of us may be lacking in any good thing. Faith is offered so that fear can be traded in, and the track cleared for the bigger jumbo gift jets to have a runway to land on. Wisdom and knowledge are promised to all in full measure so that these gifts may be applied properly; and must be asked for as well. Prophecy for the edifying of the Body, as well as tongues, and the interpretation thereof, if necessary- in places without interpreters in remote parts of the planet, say- are also available upon request at the Front Desk when applicable.
In fact, I believe if an ordinary believer took off to a remote land where there were no interpreters or resources, they would have everything, right there in 1Corinthians 12 to deliver the Good News in every capacity. Wait! The Twelve All-Over-The-Place Guys did do that! Ever wonder how they could show up in any country or tribe anywhere on the globe and just start right in? So what excuse do we have? We have not because we ask not…. Hmmm
tHis Love
~ This is My commandment, that you love one another, – just as (in the same way as) I have loved you ~ (John 15.12)
loving out loud , with a heavenly noise 🙂 great post skip:)