Washing my feet

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalms 119:105

A lamp unto my feet: It illuminates my feet-shows where I am now in my fallen, degenerate state. It shows me that I am nowhere near the person God would have me to be. It shows just how far I am from being like His Son.

A lamp pointed at my feet when I am standing still shows my location- far from God, off the path AGAIN and bogged down by guilt and shame. They stick like mud to my feet, making them dirty-showing me where I am and where I've been. But the Word of God is not exposing my shamefulness to leave me there!

The verse goes on.

The Word of God is a light unto my path. It stretches out in front of me illuminating the way I ought to go. I can't see the whole journey- just a short distance, but as I walk in the path set before me, the light moves further on, drawing me ever closer to the God of the Word.

As I move along the path, His Word continues to be a lamp unto my feet- no longer illuminating my failures- but instead, helping me to see the things that could cause me to stumble and fall. This lamp shows me where to place my feet so I have sure footing on solid ground.

A friend of mine wrote this quote by Moody in the front of her Bible:
"This book will keep me from sin, or sin will keep me from this book."

The Word of God has the power to bring our sins to light, but it then shows us the way the Lord would have us to go and says, "This is the way, walk ye in it." (Isaiah 30:21)

In John 13, the Lord Jesus washed the disciples' feet. Simon Peter initially refused to take part in what he perceived as degradation of his Lord, but Jesus said, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me" (John 13:8). Christ was not saying that Peter would not be saved. He was saying that He could not have full fellowship with Peter until the defilement of the world He'd passed through had been washed from His feet.

This mirrors the believer's experience of Jesus as Lord. When we are saved, we are cleansed from our sins through His precious blood, and we can never lose that salvation. Positionally, we are His for eternity.

But as we travel through life the defilement of sin gathers on our feet, hindering our ability to commune with God. We need to have our feet washed with water.

Dr. C. I. Scofield in his reference notes on this subject says, "Christ cannot have communion with a defiled saint, but He can and will cleanse him."

Isn't that wonderful?! The perfect, spotless Son of God will cleanse carnal, deceitful me to bring me into His presence. I'm not worthy of the least of His attention, but He stoops and takes my feet in His hands- hands that for my sake were pierced through by Roman nails. Those hands are holding my disgusting feet- feet covered in the defilement of a wicked world, and He doesn't judge or try to make me feel guiltier. He just washes them- lovingly- like it's the first time- even though we both know I've come crawling back before. And though we both know it won't be the last time, there's no mention of that now. He washes them so totally clean that they look new, and it's hard to imagine the state they were in before.

Cleansed, I can have communion with Him. And that's what He wanted all along.

Ginger Ale

Simply because I'm worried that my last post will give unrealistically high expectations:

Ginger ale is quite fascinating. The can I'm currently drinking from is branded Canada Dry. However, according to fine print on the label, the can was bottled in Plano, Texas. I feel a little cheated that my soda wasn't imported.

Also, there is nothing dry about this ginger ale. The can is filled with fizzy liquid, AND the outside is dripping with condensation. This all seems like false advertising.

The label of the can shows a map of Canada. Strangely this map extends south and covers the northern half of the United States. Either the country is having identity issues or Canada is plotting to take over the world. Both are likely possibilities.

Amillennialism

At the conference in Waukesha, Wisconsin a few weeks ago, Mr. Slabaugh was discussing amillennialism. In essence, amillennialism says that the Millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ on this earth, will never actually occur.

Amillennialism is a complicated theory, and I'm not going to pretend to understand everything it says. However, one aspect of amillennialist thinking has been on my mind a lot lately:

Amillennialism preaches that the promises made to Israel now apply to the Church; that the Nation of Israel had their chance to accept Christ, didn't, and so God will no longer deal with them. Many evangelical churches embrace this theory.

By insinuating that God will not fulfill His promises to His people, the amillennialist calls into question the very character of God. If the promises made to Israel are no longer valid, what hope do Christians have that God won't simply turn His back on the promises He's made to us? What good is a promise from God if He's free to rescind it on a whim?

God's character is consistent throughout time. Often we view Him as judgmental and stern in the Old Testament but gracious and loving in the New. But Malachi 3:6 says, "For I am the Lord, I change not..." His character is steady and unchangeable throughout eternity.

Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised." If God's promises are faithful and true once, then they are always true. The promises to Israel and to the Church are true because God made these promises, not because of anything we could do.