How Beautiful Are Your Feet?

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come over you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8-9 

It is what causes that slightly haunted look in her eyes. And the restlessness in her heart - the urgency in her voice - the passion as she speaks. It is what bruises her heart by the pain she sees and the anguish she hears. It is what causes the ache she has to bring healing. It is what causes every thought she has, every decision she makes, every breath she takes to be centered on THEM. It is what makes her so willing to sacrifice her own needs and desires for people she doesn't even know.

What is IT? It is the power she receives "when the Holy Spirit comes over her". For without that power she is not capable of all it takes to truly love like He loves and serve like He is calling her to serve. On her own she is too selfish and self-centered to feel this passion and urgency and restlessness to reach out touch lost and hurting souls. On her own she is still looking up into the sky, wondering where Jesus went and when He will return. But with the power of the Holy Spirit, she is has received an unconditional Agape love capable of seeing others through His eyes and understanding them with His heart of grace and mercy.

Who is she? Oh, if you think hard enough you can picture her in your mind. We all know "her". She is someone who has taken Acts 1:8 and internalized it until it is not just a verse - not just part of a story we tell to children in Sunday School - but an entire way of life. It is not just a trip she takes every summer to fulfill an obligation, but it is the way she views the people around her. It has an effect on the relationships she has, the way she talks, what she chooses to do with her time...in other words in obeying God's command to go and share the gospel to those closest to her and radiating throughout the furthest reaches of the world, her life becomes less and less about her and more and more about reaching the lost and hurting people around her.

Perhaps this is you. Perhaps you understand all too well the pain as well as the joy associated with loving someone with this kind of love. Perhaps you've freely made the sacrifices. Perhaps you've experienced the overwhelming joy of seeing people's lives changed. THIS is the reason we were created. THIS is our purpose. No matter how hard we work to be successful or how much we accumulate in our lifetime, our fulfillment is completely centered on how totally we surrender ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit. The verse says YOU will receive. You...and me...not they...this is not someone else's responsibility. We must take ownership of our own accountability because we are all called to go and share His love and message with different people. The consequences are too devastating to even consider if we don't! He has people in our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria and maybe even to the ends of the earth that He has called us to minister to. I keep asking myself the haunting question, "If I ignore the Holy Spirit, then how will they hear?" So I am asking you as well as myself: "IF I DON'T GO TELL THEM THAT JESUS LOVES THEM...THAT HE DIED ON THE CROSS FOR THEM...WHO WILL?"

Do we have a haunted look in OUR eyes? Do we have a restless heart? Is there an urgency in our voice as we talk about them? Is there anyone whom God has laid on our heart so heavily that it is bruised with the heaviness of our concern for them? Do our hands ache to bring God's love and healing to anyone? Is there anyone we are willing to sacrifice our own needs and desires for even though we may not know them - or others may not understand them? YOU are eternally important to someone right now. Do you know who that is? YOU have received the power of the Holy Spirit. Do you feel it? Don't quench it!

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” Matthew 10:14-15