Beautiful...feet?

Have you ever thought about---your feet?

I mean, you couldn’t get anywhere without them. Think about all of the places your feet go…all of the shoes that contain them…all of the stuff they come in contact with. Once in a while you might even paint your toes to give them some character.

Despite the practicality of my feet for getting me from here to there, I don’t pay them much attention—not compared to my makeup, hair, or clothing. If someone were to ask my what my greatest trait was, I probably wouldn’t respond by saying my feet. I mean, I don’t know about you, but it’s not everyday someone just raves over how incredible they are or how good they look in those shoes. 

And yet, scripture references our feet by saying, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:15

Beautiful? MY feet? Let’s just say that’s not exactly how I would phrase it. Not to mention, when I think about it—this verse reads the same for the woman in Ethiopia walking miles on bare feet to get a bucket of water for her family, or the child running from his enslavement as a child soldier whose feet are blackened by frost bite after he trudged through the snow last winter. What about the soldier who lost his foot in battle? Surely, these feet could not be beautiful?

What is Jesus really talking about here? What could make the Ethiopian traveler, young boy, soldier and me all behold such beauty—in our feet?

Beautiful Feet Are:

1.) Missional Feet—are your feet moving with a purpose aside from meeting an immediate need? Are your feet prepared to fulfill the call each day? Are you continually strengthening and refining your walk, that you may have endurance to sprint for days? Your feet are beautiful when they walk past your own needs straight unto another’s.

2.) Gospel-Saturated Feet—with the message of Christ, these are extraordinary feet. Are your feet soaking in the water of Life each day? Are the wrinkles multiplying? Your feet must trudge through some desert lands here and there—are you soaking them enough?

3.) Washed Feet—we have all read scripture depicting Jesus’ washing of His disciples feet. This was an act of utter humility. Just by knowing Him intimately we get to experience the perfect washing—by the blood of the Lamb given that we might be presented clean and pure, washed white as snow. Enslavement to sin has been loosed forever…oh what beautiful feet!

4.) Willing Feet—your feet do NOT go where you do not want them to go…your feet go where you tell them to go! What is in your heart? Are you willing to go where the Lord leads—will you follow His will for your feet today? Will you share the gospel with the woman smoking outside Walmart? Will you invite the kid that everyone ignores in your class to join your discussion? Will you bring dinner to the new mom that lives next door? Will you walk into battle ready to fight—will you know Him more?

5.) Feet that Belong to Another—Is Christ more beautiful to you then anything else in this world? This is why your feet are beautiful. We are completely incapable of keeping God’s law! Do we understand our need for a savior? Feet are beautiful because they represent a redeemed and transformed life because of Jesus Christ. MY feet ARE beautiful—because they belong to Him, not by anything that I can boast of, but solely by grace through faith—what a Savior, what a God.

Where will your beautiful feet go later today? Tomorrow? Next week?

Do others behold the beauty as your feet approach?

Oh what beautiful feet we have—saturated like the woman wondering through the Ethiopian desert, Missional like the little boy who trekked through the snow to escape capivity, willing like the soldier who lost a limb in saving a comrade, washed by the blood like mine, the sinner in desperate need of this humbling bathing daily.

All of these feet belong to another—so yes, all of these feet are beautiful.