Beautiful Feet

I hate feet. If I'm honest, I think they are disgusting. I don't like looking at or seeing other people's feet. I don't care if you just had a pedicure or just polished and painted your toes. I don't care to see them. For this reason, I don't wear sandals - never have.

However, recently I have been reminded of Scriptures that speak to the significance, importance, and even beauty of feet.

Consider these...

Isaiah 52:7 (NIV) = How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

Romans 10:14-15 (NIV) = How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Ephesians 6:15 (KJV) = And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace...

Lately, I have felt an ever increasing burden to have "beautiful feet." I have felt a renewed sense of urgency, and have been praying that God would increase my burden for the lost. I want evangelism to become more of a lyfestyle for me, not just an event.

In John 13, Jesus gives us a model of what it means to truly serve one another through the washing of feet. We must remind ourselves that in the cultural and historical context in which Jesus washed feet, they wore sandals everywhere on some dusty roads. In other words, their feet would have been "a mess." And yet we see the King of kings and Lord of lords wrap a towel around his waist, get down on the ground, and wash his disciples feet! I have heard this referred to as "the ministry of the towel." In graduate school we were exhorted to have this ministry. In the passage in John 13, after Jesus has washed His disciples feet He states in verse 14 and 15, "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." He even adds in verse 17 that we "will be blessed" if we do it! There is blessing in washing feet. There is a blessing in serving others. There is a blessing in wrapping a towel around our waist, and humbling ourselves...washing feet.

As I look at these two examples of the significance of feet within Scripture I see that they point to both the Portrayal and the Proclamation of the Gospel. They are the Audio and the Visual of the Gospel. There must always be both. When we separate the two our witness is ineffective and Biblically incomplete. However, when both are present (Portrayal and Proclamation) our witness is credible, it is Biblically wholistic. They must always be intertwined ie Evangelism & Social Justice, Compassion/Mercy/Justice & Evangelism.