Sunday Soaking: Beautiful Feet

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Isaiah 52:7

Where, and to whom, do our feet carry us? What kind of message is delivered when we arrive? 

Our feet may be manicured, exfoliated, moisturized, and flawlessly painted, but still far from beautiful in God’s sight if they carry us to gossip, condemnation, criticism, and self-indulgence.  

According to Isaiah, truly beautiful feet carry us to: 

• Deliver good news 
• Proclaim peace 
• Bring good tidings 
• Proclaim salvation 
• Declare, “God reigns!” 

Have your feet taken you a journey to deliver a salvation message? Instead of a guilt-ridden duty, do you see delivering the gospel as a delightful privilege? 

Delivering good news can be fun! 

My Aunt Judy (my Mom’s sister) and my Aunt Linda (my Dad’s sister) were best friends in high school. They also shared the same favorite teacher. They raced each other to school to tell their favorite teacher that their sister and brother were going to have a baby. As high school best friends, they were very excited about being aunts to the same baby. While one won the race tell their teacher the baby was coming, the other won the honor of sharing, “It’s a girl and her name is Laura Ann!” (I’m sure you guessed by now – that baby was me! They both still call me Laura Ann. We southern girls often have two names!)  

Neither forced herself to drag in to deliver the message. They wanted to share, they were excited to share, and it was a joy to be the first to share.  

Truly good news is like that: 

• I’m getting married! 
• I got the job! 
• The biopsy was negative! 
• My son got the scholarship! 
• I’m going to be a grandmother!  

Aunt Linda and Aunt Judy had good news about a baby … but the baby who brought the best of all news was named Jesus. The messenger who announced His arrival proclaimed, “Good news…great joy…for all people!” 

The Prince of Peace was born for a mission: to die so others could live. He purchased salvation for others, at the great price of His own death.

There was no other way.  

A college professor once explained it this way: “Man should, but cannot. God can, but should not.” 

Jesus, the God/man, was uniquely qualified and satisfied the righteous requirement of the law.  

Mankind sinned, so man must pay. A perfect sacrifice was required, and only God was perfect.  

Jesus died the death we deserve. He took the death penalty for us. He became death for us. At the death of Jesus, the sky turned black, despair settled over His followers, the earth shook, and rocks split. (Matthew 27:51). Even the Roman guards declared, “Surely he was the Son of God!” 

Those who believed were devastated. Those who didn’t previously believe suddenly did. But (they thought) it was too late, that they had missed their opportunity. Someone good and great had lived and walked among them, and they missed their chance – they thought they blew it!  

As despair, defeat, and depression settled over the earth like a dense fog, the world was without hope. Only Satan and his minions rejoiced. But theirs was a short celebration. It lasted only three days. Because then the unbelievable happened: the One who was dead came back to life! He conquered sin and death with His resurrection power! Jesus who was dead is now alive! 

Mary Magdalene was awarded the holy privilege of having the first beautiful feet to deliver the good-news message. Jesus told Mary, “…go…and tell…” in John 20:17.  

She obeyed. Mary’s beautiful feet carried her to the disciples where she declared, “I have seen the LORD!”  

The Greek word here for seen means to “look away from one thing and to see another.” A change in focus. And that’s precisely what good news does: it changes our focus, and our attitude. Transforms our sadness to joy, our pain to praise, our rejection to acceptance.  

Good news brings hope where there was none.

Good news is often a delightful surprise.  

Good news is a privilege to share.

Just ask Aunt Judy, Aunt Linda, or Mary Magdalene. They all had fun sharing what they knew with someone who didn’t know.  

Where, and to whom, will your beautiful feet take you to have that kind of fun today? 

In this week’s video devotional video, Laura and her friend, Stacey, discuss John 8:32: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. We invite you to listen as Stacy shares her personal testimony of God’s patience through her own salvation and learning-to-trust story. We hope you will be blessed and and challenged to keep on praying!