[Jesus] came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you
going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You
do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter,
“you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered,
“Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” John 13:6-8
To be clean, you have to acknowledge that you’re dirty. To
receive forgiveness you must admit that you need forgiving. Peter wasn’t too
good to have his feet washed. He just didn’t feel good enough to have Jesus wash
his feet.
It’s not that Peter’s feet were clean. He had collected
plenty of dust in his sandals along the way. It’s not that Peter had never had
his feet washed. Feetwashing was as common as a shoe shine 50 years ago.
Peter’s issue was not with the what. His issue was with the who.
Peter would have let a servant was his feet. He would have
been completely comfortable with someone of lower stature bending down to
cleanse his tootsies. But, the Son of God? That made Peter uncomfortable. Jesus
tipped social convention on its ear. The Greatest was doing the work of the
least.
While most of us would do anything for anyone in need,
sometimes it’s difficult to receive help. We would give the shirt off of our
back, but to take someone else’s shirt is another matter. It all comes down to
pride.
The self-righteous, like the older brother in the story of
the Prodigal (Luke 15:11-32), think that they don’t need Christ’s sacrifice.
They don’t appreciate God’s grace. They might even take it for granted, because
the dark side never seemed that dark. If we can live our lives well on our own,
then why do we need Jesus?
The reality is that none of us can live our lives well
enough. All of us have fallen short (Romans 3:23), probably more than we care
to admit. If we feel self-righteous and better than other believers, then we’ve
overly focused on avoiding obvious sin and carefully ignored hidden sin.
Whether you’re dirty on the outside or dirty on the inside, you need to be
cleansed.
I see this with men addicted to pornography. It’s addictive
like a spiritual crack cocaine. It’s deceiving. “I can quit any time. This
doesn’t control me.” Here’s the reality: if you could quit on your own, you
would have. You’re not going to break this one on your own and just confessing
to God won’t break it either. You’ve already done that and look where you are.
To break an addiction to anything: porn, food, internet,
alcohol, drugs, work or whatever else, you have to humble yourself and confess
to another person. James 5:16 says,
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each
other so that you may be healed.”
If you want to be healed, you must confess to another
believer. After all, we are only as sick as our secrets. Wouldn’t it be great
to be free?
Where do you need to be cleansed today? What do you need to
confess? Who feels like a safe person to confess to? Don’t keep yourself in
bondage for another day.
Once you’ve confessed, here are a couple of resources that can help you:
Faithful Eyes: faithfuleyes.org
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Galatians 4:19 Ministries:
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