Wholly Devoted Feet Series

Introduction:

A. Today we continue our Wholly Devoted Series.

1. We are exploring how to be wholly devoted to God with all that we are and all that we have.

2. Let’s review the two verses that have provided the Scriptural foundation for the series.

a. Jesus said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

b. Paul wrote: “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God…and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:13).

3. So far in our series, we have explored what it means to have:

a. A wholly devoted mind.

b. A wholly devoted heart.

c. A wholly devoted tongue.

d. Wholly devoted eyes.

e. Wholly devoted ears.

f. And wholly devoted hands.

4. Lord willing, next week we will conclude our series with wholly devoted knees.

5. Today we want to explore what it means to have wholly devoted feet.

B. So let’s turn our attention to our feet.

1. The story is told of a three-year-old boy who put his shoes on all by himself.

a. His mother noticed that the shoes were on the wrong feet.

b. She said, “Son, your shoes are on the wrong feet.”

c. He looked up at her with a raised brow and said, “Don't kid me, Mom. These are the only feet I got!”

2. How true! These are the only feet we got!

C. And these feet that we have are another amazing part of our bodies.

1. By definition, the foot is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates.

2. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion.

3. The human foot and ankle is a strong and complex mechanical structure containing exactly 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

D. Unlike the hands, that we discussed last week, we don’t use the feet to communicate.

1. But like the hands, our feet have become an important part of our communication through the use of idioms.

2. Listen to a few of the many ways we use feet to communicate about our lives:

a. We talk about getting the foot in the door, and getting off on the wrong foot.

b. We talk about putting our best foot forward, and putting down our foot.

c. We talk about putting our foot in our mouth, and shooting yourself in the foot.

d. We talk about getting back on our feet, landing on our feet, and getting swept off our feet.

e. We talk about getting our feet wet, and jumping in with both feet.

f. So you can see, we talk about our feet a lot!

E. As we turn to Scripture, we notice that the Bible addresses the spiritual importance of our feet.

1. Today, I want us to focus on two aspects of having wholly devoted feet.

I. First, Wholly Devoted Feet are Careful Feet.

A. Listen to an excerpt from Dr. Seuss’ book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...”

1. We can thank God that He has given us brains in our heads and the freedom to choose for ourselves which way we will go.

2. Free will is a precious gift, but it is also a dangerous one.

3. Unfortunately, we don’t always choose to go in the right direction.

4. Unfortunately, we are not always careful with our steps.

B. When we turn to the book of Proverbs, we see that the wise man, King Solomon, gave a number of warnings to his children about their feet and the direction of their steps.

1. In chapter one, he wrote:

Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction

and do not forsake your mother’s teaching(vs. 8).

10 My son, if sinners entice you,

do not give in to them.

11 If they say, “Come along with us;

let’s lie in wait for someone’s blood,

let’s waylay some harmless soul…

15 my son, do not go along with them,

do not set foot on their paths;

16 for their feet rush into sin…

2. In chapter four, he wrote:

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked

or walk in the way of evil men (vs. 14).

26 Make level paths for your feet

and take only ways that are firm.

27 Do not swerve to the right or the left;

keep your foot from evil.