Spring is coming. Ahhh, warmer temperatures. After the winter we've had, Spring will be a much welcomed stranger. But, Spring brings something other than warmer temperatures. Flip-flops! My wife brought home a new pair for herself last night and was sporting them around the house. Her's are not the usual rubber thong for your feet. To pass her standard, they have to sparkle. :-) Flip-flops are wonderfully comfortable in the Spring and Summer, but no matter how sparkling they are there is one enormous flaw in their design. They expose your feet!
You can't maintain any kind of dignity when you look down and notice that God gave you those ugly things sticking out from the bottom of your legs. Some of you out there, I'm sure, have a beautiful pair. But, I am among the rest of the world, who do not. I look at mine and I totally understand why cultures consider the feet unclean or ungodly. When God created feet, He clearly put function way ahead of form.
That brings me to the point in this devotion for today. Feet are a part of God's creation. No matter what we think of their appearance, God created them and called them good! It's no wonder bearing the feet is considered a sacred, or spiritual, act when entering holy ground. Holy ground is ground where God is encountered. When standing before God, we are incapable of hiding anything. The act of taking off your shoes is an act of sacred honor, or respect, for the presence of God. Shoes are dirty, and they cover the truth of our feet--which are symbols of shame, biblically speaking. So then, taking off our shoes before God is about much more than just the need to keep the floor clean. It is a symbolic gesture for the taking off of anything we might use to veil the truth about who we are. Before our heavenly Father, we are naked, vulnerable---like our feet. All our sins exposed like the ugliness of our feet. Yet, our Father looks at us...all of us...and declares that we were created good! God created us, and loves us---even those of us with ugly feet.
Because of God's love, we have no reason to be ashamed of anything before God. We have flaws, this is true. But, these only point to the fact that God isn't finished with us yet. Today, we are not yet what God will create with us tomorrow. Do not be ashamed, you are a work in progress.
Heavenly Father, may I never be ashamed of myself in your presence. Encourage me to love the person your grace is helping me to become. Amen
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