May 2010
How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! Romans 10:15 ESV
Hey . . . nice feet!
I’m sure there is nothing wrong with getting a pedicure (although I admit I am not an authority on the matter). But there is also a deeper kind of foot beauty. This foot beauty is not something we are born with, nor is it something money can buy. It is the beauty of the feet of those who deliver the good news.
Why the focus on feet?
Because there is no mission without movement. Of course we don’t get points for mileage. The missional feet may simply carry us to the new neighbour. But the Gospel has to get out—out of the house, out of the church, out of the comfortable routines and places and faces. Daunting—yes, but think about those beautiful feet!
Beautiful to whom?
Surely the missional feet are beautiful to the newest member of the family—beauty is in the eyes of the believer!Are they not also beautiful in the eyes of our Heavenly Father who loved this world so much that . . .
Hey . . . nice feet! I see you have discovered that grace is portable.
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! ”(Psalms 46:10 ESV)
What if God really is God after all?
What if he really does call out the “starry host one by one” (Isaiah 40:26) like a choir director arranging her singers on the stage?
What if the heavenly city is not just a pipe dream and God really will gather “a great multitude . . . from every nation, tribe, people and language (Revelation 7:9)?
What if God knows what he is doing?
We pray for the courage to visit our new neighbours, Ahmed and Nemit. We nervously knock on the door wondering how we can introduce them to Jesus. To our surprise Jesus has been there ahead of us. Looking carefully we see his footprints everywhere.
Behind our humble mission adventures, there is God, patiently fulfilling his plans for the human race.
And He invites us to participate in His mission in this world, not to trouble us, or to burden us, but to but to share in his joy as he gathers his own to himself.
What a relief to know that God is God!
“And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:29, ESV)
No single metaphor captures all the richness and the depth of the Christian Gospel. But I do like the image of the banquet. At the banquet table we sit among friends and family; we talk and tell jokes and even try to sing; and our hunger and our thirst are more than satisfied. The banquet table is a place of celebration and joy—a wonderful picture of the Gospel in action. And best of all . . . we are there by invitation!
I don’t find it easy to share my faith. But this metaphor of the banquet is helpful. We are simply called to extend the invitation. It is our Lord’s banquet and it is His invitation we are extending.
Perhaps the big question is this: How do we extend the invitation in a way that really connects?
Yes, God still uses tracts and TV broadcasts. But nothing beats a handwritten, hand delivered invitation. Are we willing to risk the kind of authentic friendship with strangers that makes the Great Invitation an attractive option?
