READ: JOHN 13:1-17; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:15-21; 1 PETER 2:21-25

A few days after arriving in Romania as a missionary, I discovered two things: First, one of the sandals I had brought along, hoping they would last my entire year overseas, broke. Second, on the ground floor of my apartment building, a family ran a small shoe repair booth.

When I brought the busted shoe to the family members sitting behind their table, I primarily used gestures to indicate what I needed, since I spoke only a few words of Romanian. The broken sandal spoke for itself, of course. But they began communicating an idea I couldn’t understand. Finally, the woman looked at me and stated in English, “The other shoe!” I nodded, then jogged up to my apartment and retrieved the sandal’s partner. I handed it to the woman and settled on a plan to retrieve the shoes—one intact, the other soon to be made whole—later in the week.

Back upstairs, I pondered the request for the other shoe. I realized these small-business owners understood that restoring the mangled sandal required using the other one as the example to follow. Had they not looked to the unharmed sandal as the model for fixing the damaged one, they risked missing the mark with their work.

In our own lives, we are like that broken sandal, because we have all sinned. But Jesus, who is fully God and fully human, is like the intact sandal. He never sinned. We may be tempted to try to fix whatever seems to be wrong in our lives, but the truth is, we’ll never be able to repair ourselves. Only God can do that. When we surrender trying to do life on our own and instead trust in Jesus—with faith in His death and resurrection—we enter a relationship with God. We also become new creations and embark on a lifetime of being restored to the way God designed us to be. So, as we wait for Jesus to return and finish His work of restoration in and around us, we can grow in loving and living sacrificially, in serving others and living righteously.

How? By keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus and relying on His love (John 15:1-13; Philippians 2:1-18; Hebrews 12:1-3; 1 John 4:19). We meet Jesus when we’re broken. But when Jesus saves us, He forgives all our sins, and His Spirit begins transforming us to become more and more like Jesus. Because it’s only through Jesus that we are made whole. • Allison Wilson Lee

• Living in our world that has been broken by sin, we encounter lots of confusing messages about which examples to follow. How could it be freeing to follow the example of Jesus, who never changes and always loves us, instead of the ideals of the world, which change over time?

“I [Jesus] have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:15 (NIV)