Ugly Feet and Pedicures

My feet are nasty.

Size 13.

Callouses all over. 

They sweat.  A lot.  And smell bad.  When I get new shoes, they lose that new shoe smell in about 10 minutes.

My big toes are shorter than my second toes, and I have more hair on my big toes than I have on my head. 

Once in awhile I have these intense flare ups of Athlete’s Foot that itch and burn like crazy from the nasty, yeasty fungus that grows in all that sweat. 

Did you just throw up in your mouth a little bit?  Sorry. 

As a guy, I don’t think about my feet very often, unless they’re itchy or hurting.  Don’t really care what they look like.  Sometimes in social situations or when I want to get close to my wife at home, I care mildly about how they smell.  I know they’re ugly and nasty, and I just don’t care.  I think most guys are like that.

I’d get a pedicure – minus the nail polish of course – but I couldn’t subject another human being to that.  It MIGHT make my feet a little less ugly and stinky and itchy. 

Let’s face it, most of us don’t think about our feet much – at least guys.  Women might spend a few bucks a couple times a summer to have somebody try to take the nasty away through a pedicure.  Other than that, feet are something we generally don’t pay much attention to and often try to hide. 

But today’s reading from Romans 10 has made me think about my feet.  And I hope it makes you think about your feet too.  No matter how little or how much you might normally think about your feet, when we have decided to follow Jesus and carry the Good News to the world, our feet are beautiful! 

In Romans 9&10, Paul is in the midst of talking about his longing for his fellow Israelites to trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ, and to quit relying on their ancestry and rules to be made right with God.  It’s an incredibly deep longing for Paul – even overwhelming to him and causing him great sorrow and anguish (Romans 9:1&2).  In Romans 9:3&4 he even goes so far as to say this: "For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel."

That’s a deep passion for people who don’t know Jesus.  A passion that most of us know nothing about.

Finally, in the midst of Chapter 10, Paul gets around to talking about how his fellow Jews can be made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ, The Messiah.  Although he is writing a book called Romans, he’s writing primarily to Christians of Jewish ancestry living in Rome, and exhorting them to share the Good News with their fellow Jews who haven’t yet trusted in Jesus for salvation.  In v.14 he asks, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” 

Chances are good that you know somebody – probably a lot of people – who haven’t yet called on the name of Jesus.  Chances are good that you know somebody – probably a lot of people – who probably really haven’t even heard about the incredible grace and truth of Jesus Christ.  Like Paul’s fellow Jews, you probably know many people who have some idea of who God is; who have some idea that they’d like to know God; and have some idea that being a good person and following the rules will make them right with God.

And this is where your feet come in.  In v. 15, Paul says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Are your feet beautiful?  Not pedicured or nice smelling or callous free.  Are you feet beautiful in the sense that they are carrying you to bring the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people in your life that don’t know Jesus? 

For far too long, the feet of the church have been ugly feet.  Feet that carry hatred.  Feet that carry arrogance and pride.  Feet that carry condemnation.  Even feet of indifference and apathy are as ugly as feet of hatred, arrogance, pride and condemnation.  Not feet that carry the Good News of truth AND grace.  I don’t know about you, but I want to be known as a person that has beautiful feet because I’ve brought Good News to people who have never heard it. 

What do your feet look like?  Hatred?  Arrogance?  Pride?  Condemnation?  Are you indifferent and apathetic, afraid or unmotivated to go to those who need Good News?  Go ahead and take off your shoes and socks.  Nobody’s looking.  Check out your feet.  Need a spiritual pedicure?  Ask God to give you one, and He will!  Start living today with the realization that your feet can be beautiful!