At His Feet

In the favorite and famous hymn “Trust and Obey,” a beautiful line sings, “Then in fellowship sweet, we will sit at his feet, until all on the altar we lay.” The words are talking about heaven… and while indeed we will enjoy a “fellowship sweet” as we sit at Jesus’ feet, I am not sure that heaven will be the passive experience that the hymn writer portrays. I can’t wait for heaven, and I believe with all my heart that one day, as every knee bows and every tongue confesses, we will indeed sit at Jesus’ feet. But heaven won’t be a collective sigh of relief where we do nothing but romantically gaze up into Jesus’ eyes.

In Luke 7, while sitting at Jesus’ feet, three action steps are revealed by a lady who, in Jesus’ presence, is experiencing a foretaste of heaven on earth. This lady is about to be forgiven and sent to live in peace for the first time in her life. She provides some insight into what we could do as we actively sit at the feet of Jesus. Luke 7:38 reads;

“As she stood at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them”.

I wonder if each action provides us with a picture of heaven. Consider the following…

• She wiped his feet. Her brokenness and confession were the attitudes with which she approached Jesus. God never, ever turns away a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). As she wiped his feet in her brokenness, Jesus wiped away her sin (Roman 5:8). Heaven will be full of broken hearts being restored and the beautiful celebrations that occur because our sins have been wiped away.

• She kissed his feet. A Hebrew definition of worship is “to reach out and kiss.” She wasn’t just washing Jesus’ feet but also worshipping him. So it shall be in heaven when we worship the one who holds the name above all names with our tongue, our touch, and our tangible actions.

• She poured perfume on his feet. This woman’s perfume was likely a tool of her trade. As she poured it over Jesus’ feet, she acknowledged that she had left her life of prostitution and was pledging herself to live a life that honored Jesus. By pouring, she was resigning. By pouring, she was surrendering to Jesus her life so that she could let his life be poured out on others through her (Phil 2:17, 1 Tim 4:6).

I can’t wait to sit at Jesus’ feet!