THURSDAY: BEAUTIFUL FEET CARRY THE GOOD NEWS
KEY PASSAGE
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? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
DEVOTIONAL
Don’t judge a person until you have walked a mile in their shoes. That’s a common phrase about trying to see things from someone else’s perspective. How can we judge someone else for not seeing things our way if they didn’t grow up our way, learn our way, or go our way? When it comes to sharing the gospel it is easy to forget to have that kind of empathy. It is easy to judge people who don’t share our beliefs, especially when their unbelief is offensive to us. It can be even more offensive when they are close to us—in the same family or social group. However, if Jesus is calling everyone to Him and everyone who calls on Him will be saved, then we cannot let our judgments get in the way.
In Romans 10, Paul asks us to walk in someone else’s shoes, specifically the Jews who know God and follow the law but reject Jesus. These were Paul’s people and they were particularly frustrating for him, but he doesn’t allow his feelings to turn to judgment. Instead, he considers their viewpoint with empathy. His logic goes like this:
How could they be saved without believing? How could they believe without hearing? How could they hear without being told? How could they be told unless we tell them? How can we blame them?
Paul’s train of thought stops with those who are sent: Christians. We are sent to preach the good news. People are saved by Jesus because people who are saved by Jesus tell them about Jesus. If we don’t go, how will they know?
By standing in someone else’s shoes we are able to see our calling more clearly. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13), not just those who look, talk, or live like us—everyone. We need to put our feet in their shoes and we need to be the feet that go. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! We are the feet.
CHALLENGE
Is there someone in your life who has rejected Jesus? Have you let your frustrations and judgments keep you from reaching them with the gospel of Christ?
Beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Maybe you need a pedicure.
Maybe your feet are dusty. That doesn’t mean they can’t still bring the good news.
Ask the Lord to create in you a clean heart . . . to wash your feet. Let the good news of Jesus travel with you.