Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean.” (John 13:10 (NKJV))

Okay. It’s confession time. My last blog post, What Do Your Words Say About You?, cautioned how your words reveal what’s in your heart. Well, just two days later, God showed me that my words had revealed a lack of trust in Him, pride, gossip, and something that could be construed as dishonoring to my husband. And that was all within the span of a single hour. I was busted. My feet were dirty.

Jesus gave us a picture of our sin. Before you came to Jesus, you were dirty from head to toe. Your sin covered you. You really needed a bath!

But when you were born again, God cleansed you. As it says in 1 Corinthians 6:11 (NLT),

“But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

In Jesus, “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)). When we’re forgiven, God removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

But your feet can still get dirty. And they do. As we continue to walk through life, we still sin. Although we sin less, we are not sinless. In fact, the Bible says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8 (NKJV)).

When our feet get dirty, we don’t need another complete bath. Our eternal destiny is already secure. We’re still going to heaven when we die. Yet, unconfessed sin can hinder the closeness of our relationship with God in the present.

So, are you willing to let Jesus wash your dirty feet? When Jesus was washing the disciples feet, Peter strongly protested at first (John 13:8). He thought it was beneath Jesus. He didn’t yet realize that Jesus had come not only to wash our feet but to give us a full bath. Jesus died on the cross so all of our sins could be forgiven.

It’s good to realize your feet are dirty. Then you can do something about it. And here are two steps you can take:

Confess to God

The first thing we need to do when we realize our feet are dirty is to repent (turn from our sin) and confess it to God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 (NKJV)).

Decide that you don’t want to do whatever it was again. And spend time in prayer. Talk to God about what you did. Agree with Him that it’s sin. Ask God for forgiveness. And then ask Him to help you walk in the freedom over sin that He’s already given you. Let Jesus wash your feet.

Confess to Others

Tell whoever was affected by your sin that you know what you did was wrong and ask them for forgiveness. The Bible instructs us to “[c]onfess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16 (NKJV)).

Most people are willing to forgive. But even if someone is unwilling, you will know that you’ve done your part. You did what God wanted you to do.

So, are your feet dirty? Stop for a moment and let Jesus wash them. Then continue on your journey as you walk by faith with God.

Photo by Ray Shrewsberry on Unsplash