In a letter to early Christian congregations the disciple Peter gave timeless advice for church members, writing (I Pet. 5:5), "Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."
As he wrote those lines Peter might well have recalled the moving occasion on which his great Teacher had brought home this lesson to the disciples. It was after the last supper that Jesus laid aside his outer garments, wrapped a towel about himself as a servant, and silently washed the feet of his friends and of the one who was to be his betrayer. When he had resumed his place Jesus explained what he had done (John 13: 13, 14): "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet."
This example of humility was an arresting one. Their Master had often before shown that meekness is an essential quality of true human consciousness, if one is to express man's spiritual unity with his heavenly Father. This culminating lesson in humility, however, should be a special one for church builders and for all church members.
