Clean Feet, Ready Ear

“Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.” (Ec 5:1 AV)

 

There are two instructions from our preacher regarding our attendance at the house of God.  The worshipper must keep his foot and be more ready to hear.  The second is rather easy to understand.  We come to the house of God to hear from God.  It is wise to hold one’s tongue for the privilege to hear the Spirit of God speak to our hearts.  The first phrase, “keep thy foot”,  is a little more obscure.  Commentators tend to come down on two possible meanings.  The first is simply to watch how one walks with God as he intends to go to worship.  However, we should watch how we walk regardless of where we are walking to.  We should walk with God Monday through Saturday as much as we do on Sunday.  The other possibility is the custom of removing one’s shoes or sandals and washing the feet upon entering holy ground.   Both Moses and Joshua were told to remove their shoes when approaching the presence of God.  In Exodus chapter thirty, the priests are instructed to wash their hands and feet before entering the tabernacle or temple.  The idea was to remove any evidence of the filth of the world before they entered into the service of the LORD.

There were a few years when my parents would take us to our grandparent's house at a regular interval.  I cannot remember if it was every other week or once a month.  However, I do remember the ritual of getting there.  It always started with a quick washing of the face and hands as well as putting on our best play clothes.  We had four sets of clothes.  We had the set we wore when we get into all sorts of things.  This set could get dirty, ripped, or worn and my Mom was ok with it.  Then there were the casual play clothes.  These clothes were not worn or mended.  They were worn we played, but not dirty or rough play.  There there was the set we wore to school.  We had uniforms which the school system required.  Then there was the Sunday best.  That is the set we always kept for Sunday church service.  As soon as we got home, off they would come and we would be in one of the two sets of play clothes.  The point was, we dressed appropriately to the purpose of our lives at the time.  We did not wear our church clothes to go out and play ball.  We didn’t wear our grungy clothes to church.  When going to Grandma’s house or church, we cleaned up.  If my mother saw a smudge, a spit shine was in order.  Which, by the way, I always thought was really gross!

We have allowed way too much of the world into our churches.  We are not treating the house of prayer as the special place that it is.  We come to church in whatever condition we feel like and expect God to accept our offering.  The world must be removed!  It must be removed from our music.  The world must be removed from our demeanor.  The world must be cleansed from our appearance.  Which is really the greatest fault of all.  It astounds me how many fundamental camps are trying to get as close to worldly fashion and still call themselves Christian.  Nowadays, our Christan young people are dressing like the punk people of my generation.  It is appalling.  We should know better.  We expect this from the world.  And the LORD bless them no matter how they come to church.  We are thrilled they come.  But for those who name the name of Christ, they need to remove their shoes and clean off the dirt of the world.  Leave the trendy fashion and personal appearance for the carnal world, but please, don’t bring it into the house of God.  God deserves better!