Going Barefoot with God

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I almost never fall off my paddle board, so very early on one cool summer morning, I decided that the lake looked too perfect to miss even though the temperature outside was still hovering near 55. Since my toes turn into human ice cubes when cool air is combined with moisture, I decided to try wearing water shoes while paddling. Although I had never worn shoes on my board before, I had seen other people do it, so it seemed like a win-win to me — warm toes and a little extra padding for comfort. At first, they were quite comfy. In fact, for a moment I thought wearing shoes on the board might become my new norm. I certainly felt warmer, and everything seemed stable. But that train of thought went off the rails the first time I shifted my weight. I might have felt comfy and stable, but when the need for adjustments came, I quickly discovered that I had significantly underestimated the impact on my balance of wearing shoes. Without direct, bare contact with the board, my ability to feel the slightest movement was dramatically minimized. The extra layer between me and the board nearly threw me in. Far more than my toes almost turned into ice cubes, not to mention how bruised my pride would’ve been.

Sometimes we add things to our lives in the name of self-protection, happiness, or comfort, yet they turn out to be entirely unnecessary and occasionally even harmful to our spiritual health. Because our humanity pushes us to rely on our own senses, feelings, and experiences, we end up layering on all kinds of requirements, habits, methods, etc. But often God wants to expose us to the elements for a reason. While these add-ons may be helpful for a season (or not), they can often end up interfering with our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and God’s intention for our lives. 

In a similar fashion, we read in the Bible that the Pharisees had added much to the Torah (the Jewish Scriptures) with endless rules and regulations for people to follow to be right with God. But then Jesus showed up on the scene and boiled faith down to two simple things: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40). It’s easy to forget how revolutionary the words of Jesus were at that time and still are today. But that’s exactly what he intended. He came to upend us. Imagine the widespread shock and counter-cultural backlash to His declaration that all the laws of the prophets could be reduced to two simple things. That would be like the country’s top lawyer proclaiming that our entire body of laws, from traffic ordinances to tax law, can be reduced to just two requirements. When Jesus said that pleasing God comes down to something so seemingly simple, it literally threatened to rip the very fabric of the Jewish culture. The disciples and most of Jesus' followers were raised and taught to revere and follow all the laws of their faith. And what Jesus said upended everything — their entire lifestyle was turned upside down. 

Changing the way we think is not easy. Bucking the predominant culture is difficult. Doing a 180 pivot from what your parents, other relatives, and teachers ingrained in you is downright arduous. Allowing yourself to be defenseless… raw… vulnerable… and completely real with Jesus is nothing short of a miracle. It is a work that only the Holy Spirit can do. It is something we see modeled in scripture time and time again, and if we are truly pursuing God above everything else, it is something that the Holy Spirit will keep leading you to do. And just when you think the layers are finally gone, He’ll show you another one… and another one. 

If this sounds exhausting or discouraging, reject that thought immediately because it’s a human reaction. It’s a feeling that Satan knows how to stir up in you, throw in your face, and eventually condition you to obey so that it becomes your normal pattern. But it’s not normal in God’s pattern. We were created in the image of Him, which means when we surrender back to God what He designed from the beginning to commune with Himself, we find what He intended as not only normal, but also powerful and exhilarating. Every layer we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal and peel back is one step closer to God's original design for us. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.” The work of the Holy Spirit, which He asks us to partner in, is not an exercise of never-ending exhaustion, but a most beautiful and exciting journey toward splendor. With our human layers, we cannot see this future glory, but by yielding to the Holy Spirit’s power, a deep-seated “knowing” begins to burn within us. 

Paul understood this more than we can ever fathom. Scholars estimate that he was about 30 years old when Jesus appeared before him on the road to Damascus. Saul, as he was known at that time, was on his way to find, publicly scorn, and kill Christians. His upbringing, his advanced learning, and his incredible intelligence were all working in perfect concert to make him an efficient, cunning, and passionate litigator and assassin. In one swift move, Jesus ripped away all of Paul’s layers in an instant and then left him to recuperate with the very group of people he had been determined to destroy. As the Holy Spirit worked to rebuild Paul out of the ashes, He outfitted him to be the catalyst that reached the rest of humanity — the vast majority of the earth who knew nothing of the religious layers required by the Pharisees. If Paul’s conversion had not been so radical, so complete, his eyes would’ve never roamed outside of his Jewish world. He would’ve never seen the image of God imprinted on the hearts of people who were not like him. 

Likening our journey with God to that of a race, Paul said in Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Do I think that Paul never got tired? No, he was still human. He may have been walking closer to God that most of us, but prison, shipwrecks, snake bites, and social ridicule wear on any person. But any time he became discouraged, we know where he found the strength and the hope to continue. He focused on the future splendor that burned within and asked God to remove yet another layer so that he could feel the warmth of its glow even more. Just like us, when he needed strength, he recounted the stories of the faith warriors who went before him. Just read Hebrews 11 and you’ll know exactly what Paul’s pep talks sounded like. He starts it off with, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Another of his most famous pep talks is found in Romans 8. In this amazing passage we are assured of God’s love for us, promised our future destiny as heirs, given a vision of the glory that’s to come, supplied with the secret to finding strength in our weaknesses, and triumphantly bestowed the new identity of conqueror in Christ. Now that’s a pep talk!

The shoes of comfort, obligation, and skepticism only keep us from sensing the Truth and responding to the direction of the Spirit. The layers in our lives may feel good and seem to promise protection. They may have even served a good purpose for a season. But anything that keeps our souls from being bare before Jesus, will eventually be targeted for removal by the Master Surgeon. We can participate in the search and willingly embrace the surgery, or we can run away to only have Him bring us back to it again and again. Like a marker in our lives, we can either keep circling it until our feet have worn a deep groove of unbalance in our faith, or we can yield to the Spirit’s leading and make it a monument to our growth and healing. As a believer in Jesus, your spiritual feet are already standing on the road to glory, but moving forward means leaving your shoes of self-preservation far behind.  ​
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