There are many things in life that we only notice after they fail us, reminiscent of lifts, microphones, money dispensers and flush toilets. Recently, after plodding through airport terminals long enough to earn me air miles, I’ve been reminded that feet fit into that category.
Feet are vital – over a mean lifetime we walk between 75,000 and 100,000 miles – and any problem with them seriously affects our life.
It’s hardly surprising, then, that the Bible makes 162 references to feet within the Old Testament, and 75 within the New Testament, including 27 references to the feet of Jesus. After all, since it is our feet that take us where we go, they speak of our lives.
Let me offer five thoughts on feet.
First, feet speak of committing our life to Christ. In the traditional world there was no motion more profound than to fall or kneel at someone’s feet. It was a gesture of humility – even humiliation – wherein you acknowledged that they were your master, a dramatic physical expression of the words ‘you might be my lord’. In the New Testament, many individuals fall on the feet of Jesus (for instance Matthew 15:21-28, Mark 1:40-45, Luke 10:38-42, 17:16, Revelation 1:17). While we cannot physically bow on the feet of Jesus today, no true Christian life begins without us falling spiritually at his feet.
Second, feet speak of commencing our life to Christ. We ‘get to our feet’ to act. There’s a practical dynamic there: feet are all about doing and going, acting and reacting. One urgent and missed truth about Christianity is that it demands motion. The Christian life is led by faith, but it surely is expressed in works. Many people speak about what they would love to present and do for God and his church but, alas, are still endlessly talking when their end comes. The truth is that the last word issue just isn’t using our tongue to speak, but our feet to walk. Act for God: don’t let the grass grow under your feet.
Third, feet speak of continuous our life for Christ. John Bunyan called his famous book The Pilgrim’s Progress, and it pictures the Christian life as just that: the progress of a person, step-by-step, on the long, hard road of life. As an evangelist I often have people tell me that they’ve decided to follow Jesus. I’m delighted. I’m much more delighted when, years later, I hear from some pastor or friend that they’re still walking with the Lord.
The Bible talks about feet within the Christian walk. Proverbs 4:26-27 (NIV) says, ‘Give careful thought to the paths in your feet and be steadfast in all of your ways. Do not turn to the precise or the left; keep your foot from evil.’ It gives encouragements: Psalm 119:105 says, ‘Your word is a lamp for my feet, a lightweight on my path,’ and Psalm 119:133, ‘Direct my footsteps in response to your word; let no sin rule over me’ (NIV). We are given the Bible to light up even the darkest paths we must tread. Indeed, God does greater than offer wisdom, he guarantees to come back alongside when the road gets hard: ‘He won’t let your foot slip – he who watches over you won’t slumber’ (Psalm 121:3 NIV).
Note, too, that in our treading the road of life, we must help others find their feet on it. Romans 10:15 (quoting Isaiah 52:7) says, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those that bring excellent news!’ (NIV). Here’s a quote from Billy Graham: ‘The highest type of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The biggest type of praise is the sound of consecrated feet looking for out the lost and helpless.’
Fourth, feet speak of the fee of our life for Christ. Feet within the Bible are sometimes viewed negatively. In an age of sandals, feet got sweaty, soiled and were, in every sense, unclean. At the tip of the working day you or your servant (for those who had one) washed your feet clean. This is the background to Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet (John 13:1-17), an motion so outrageous that it lacks any precedent in the traditional world.
There’s a message here about involvement that parallels our expression of ‘getting your hands dirty’. It’s easy today to hunt to answer others from behind the protection of a pc or phone screen. Yet our world needs reality, not cosy virtuality. We should be present in church services, to shake hands with people, to embrace the unloved and to go to see the lonely. Our Christian faith have to be not only worked out but walked out, and that comes with a price in wounds, bruises and dirt. It’s a challenge to keep in mind that when the risen Jesus appeared to his disciples, he showed them his own pierced feet (Luke 24:39-40). Do our feet bear evidence that we have now served?
Fifth, feet speak of the conclusion of our life for Christ. We must commit, begin and proceed the Christian life and bear its cost. But we can even look beyond the usually painful and dangerous road that lies before us to its final and glorious conclusion.
In the face of trial and temptations we will be encouraged by Romans 16:20 (NIV): ‘The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.’
Many smartwatches alert us after we’ve spent too long at our desks and it is time to get to our feet and walk about. We need the spiritual equivalent. Around the Lord’s banquet table in eternity there will probably be a time to place our feet up, but not until then. In the meantime, let’s rise and walk for Jesus.
