How Many Feet Have You Washed Lately?

“It’s one thing to write a check to
your favorite charity; it’s one thing to speak in sympathetic terms about the
plight of those less fortunate; it’s one thing to hand out blankets to homeless
people; and it’s another to get down on your hands and knees and
lovingly wash the feet of a homeless person. To put yourself into a simple act
that says “I love you, your are special to me and to God.”

– Dan Merchant –

This quote comes from a book called Lord,
Save Us From Your Followers. The book is about culture wars and how
Christians are so quick to say, “you’re wrong and I’m right so let be tell
you how to be right like me.” It is an extremely challenging book that
calls Christ followers to actually sit down and have a conversation with
someone who has different views than you, to listen to their story and try to
understand them. We are all God’s children. He made every single person in the
world. We are all equals in God’s eyes. How often do we just throw money at people
who are less fortunate than us or tell someone we will pray for them without
actually having a conversation with them and getting to know them? We get so
caught up in our own busyness that we forget why we are living. We are alive
so that we can be Jesus’ hands and feet. That is our soul purpose in this
world.

At the end of the book, there is a
beautiful story about a group of people in Portland, Oregon who hang out with
homeless people every friday night downtown under a bridge. The ministry is
called Bridgetown Ministries and volunteers from different churches all over
Portland come together EVERY FRIDAY night to provide a meal, clothing, and
toiletries for the homeless. Another absolutely amazing thing that the
volunteers do for the homeless people is wash their feet for them. Every Friday
night they have a foot washing station. Homeless people walk a lot throughout
the week so for them to have their feet washed is truly a blessing to them. One
homeless man named Chuck said this, “The foot wash feels really good.
Everybody likes that. I walk a lot so it feels nice to have somebody do that
for you. Vicki and I can get a meal here, have people pray for us, get our feet
washed, it’s good.” This, to me, is an incredible example of how to be
Jesus to someone. After all, Jesus did wash His disciples feet.

I was extremely encouraged and challenged
by this book. God calls us to love people and so often we fall short of this.
Love means giving of yourself. Love means stepping out and putting yourself in
uncomfortable situations. Love means following through with ideas that God lays
on your heart even though you have no idea what the outcome will be.

“You can tell someone truly knows
Christ when, in a conversation, they are way more interested in what you have to say
than what they have to say.”