The Importance of Good Feet

The body part that seems to get the most use and abuse is our feet.  It is our first mode of transportation and we don’t even think twice about getting up and walking where we want to go…until there is a problem. Stubbing your toe will send a shock wave of pain throughout your body.  Have you noticed how many commercials pertain to foot care?  Some people like me have suffered with foot problems for years. I recently had elective surgery to fix the problem and during recovery I am remaining non weight bearing on that foot. This has made me painfully aware of the importance of having two good feet.

Think of all the things our feet can do!  We can dance, hike, hop, jump, kick, march,run, shuffle, skip, spin, walk, wobble or drag our feet. (Did I miss any?)

HAPPY FEET

We celebrate the milestone of a baby’s first steps and groan as that toddler runs away with something they shouldn’t have! We can walk and enjoy the good things in creation. We celebrate with  dancing at many joyous occasions. King David danced with great joy when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to Jerusalem after having fallen captive to the Philistines.

1 Samuel 18:6   As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.

 

DIRTY FEET

Even when feet are covered they can get so dirty, wet and cold. So we can understand the importance of foot washing  in ancient days when there weren’t any shoes and only dirt roads.  It was an important part of hospitality.

Are there times we allow our feet to “get dirty”?  Do we stray into areas that God would not approve of?  He sees everything we do. Scripture points out stubbling or wandering feet but also how His Word can keep you moving on the right path.

Psalm 119:105   Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Proverbs 3:26    for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

 

HEALED FEET

Looking deeper into the importance of good feet I am reminded of when Jesus healed the lame man.  If you couldn’t walk then you probably couldn’t work and would be destined to beg for pennies to buy food.   Utterly destitute, an unwanted burden was his daily lot until Jesus stopped by.  Can you imagine with me how healing changed this man’s whole future?  He can transform ours too.

John 5:5–9    One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”  The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” (They believed an angel would occassionally stir the water and the first one in was healed.)   Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”  And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. 

BEAUTIFUL FEET

No matter what our physical feet may look like we are called to go share the gospel wherever we go.  Shoes are an important part of the armor of God.  Some versions use the term “being shod”  which implicates purpose.  Being ready to share the gospel of peace we can have with God makes our “feet” beautiful in His eyes.. (John 14) The word stand is used at least four times in Ephesians 6.

Ephesians 6:11–15    Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil…    Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
…. 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

Hebrews 12:1   Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

 

Let us all allow Him to fill our hearts with joy to dance, that we come  before Him to cleanse our “feet” and be careful to spread the good news wherever we go.

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