Pastoral devotion for July

Beautiful Feet

Read Romans 10:1-15

It goes without saying, our feet are not our most attractive attribute. Yet, the human foot is wonderfully designed by our creator. Our feet carry us places; hold us up on sure footing. Feet can be graceful and athletic; they can be sturdy and agile. But the most wonderful thing about our feet is that, because of Christ, they can stand in the presence of God as we worship him in his temple, and then carry us in mission for the sake of God’s people.

Consider the feet of Christ, those once wounded by the nail. They are the same feet once anointed with Mary’s tears and dried in a devotional act of love with her hair. Even as the nail pierced his feet and affixed them to the cross, Jesus continued to speak words of love and forgiveness. Even as his feet could no longer take him to places where people were in need of healing, Jesus provided ultimate healing for a broken humanity. And even though life giving blood ceased to flow through the wounded feet of our Lord Jesus, death could not hold them in the grave; our Savior would walk again in the glory of the resurrection.

Consider your own feet, once wounded by the nail of sin, yet forgiven and washed clean by the blood of Christ Jesus. Consider your feet, made strong and sure by the power of the Holy Spirit and empowered to take you to those places God would have you go. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, God calls us to take to our feet and proclaim his gospel to a fallen broken world. God calls us to bear witness to his grace, proclaiming the lifesaving power of Jesus’ victory at the cross.

Prayer: Guide me, O Christ, as I walk in your ways to share your gospel. Amen.