Leslie B. F.

Believers are commanded to admonish, exhort, reprimand, and correct one another or figuratively, to wash one another’s feet. Washing the saints feet in a spiritual sense means helping our fellow Christians get rid of moral defilement accumulated in their life style, as well as learning to serve others more. There are procedures that are important for us in this kind of service:

Make sure your brother's feet are dirty

A young business woman arrived half an hour late to speak to a Bible study group. Immediately the friend who invited her took her aside and admonished her for keeping these first-time non-Christians neighbor waiting so long. Then the business woman explained. "My car was hit by a drunken driver. I could not leave till the police came; also I had to wait for a wrecker for my badly damaged car. I should have gone to the hospital, for I ache all over, but I refused the ambulance driver and got a taxi here."

We should never get the washbasin ready until we have the facts straight we should make sure our brother has definitely committed a trespass before attempting to correct him.

See that your own hands are clean

In some sections of Scotland, bachelor friends of the bridegroom grab him the night before the wedding and carry him to a convenient spot where they remove his shoes and socks and pretend to wash his feet. But everyone has first blackened his hand with soot. Result the groom's feet become dirtier than ever! Whatever the significance of that custom, the person who tries to wash a fellow believer's feet with stains on his own hands will botch the job. Paraphrasing some advice of Jesus, "First wash your own hands, then you shall see clearly to wash your brother's feet."

Fifty three residents of certain location signed a petition to stop reckless driving on their streets. The police set a watch. A few nights’ later five violators were caught. All five had signed the petition! It is those "who are spiritual" who are to restore brothers who stumble (Gal. 6:1).

Do foot washing in the proper place

The foot washer should never sound a trumpet before announcing, "I'm about to set Brother X straight." Foot washing is not an exhibition of dirt or failure. When renewal meetings at a Christian’s college led to open confession of sins that seemed to wallow in shame, the President wisely closed the service. We are to wash feet, not splatter mud around, thereby smearing reputations.

Have the water at proper temperature

The water should be neither too hot nor too cold. Telling someone his faults with malice or glee makes the water boiling or freezing. A scolding becomes a scalding, or an icing.

Stoop low

To wash feet, you have to kneel as Jesus did to wash the disciple's feet. You cannot strut like a drill officer or parade like a peacock when you’re washing feet. Restoration should be done "considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.

Handle gently

When a person bares his soles, he is exposing a sensitive, tender, and ticklish part of his anatomy. That's why Paul said to restore "in a spirit of gentleness" (Gal. 6:1).

John Wesley and a preacher-friend of plain habits were once invited to dinner where the host's daughter, noted for her beauty, had been profoundly impressed by Wesley's preaching. During a pause in the meal, Wesley's friend took the young woman’s hand and called attention to the sparkling rings she wore. "What do you think of this, sir, for a Methodist hand?" The girl turned crimson. Wesley likewise was embarrassed, for his aversion to jewellery was only too well known. But with a benevolent smile, he simply said, "The hand is very beautiful." Wesley's remark both cooled the too-hot water poured by his friend, and made the foot washing gentle. The young woman appeared at the evening service and became a strong Christian.

Someone said, "When you start heaving rocks of truth at people, be sure to wrap them in packages of love."

Dry the feet

After the Lord washed the disciple's feet, He wiped them. An inadequate job of drying feet can cause the feet to become dirtier than before the washing when they contact dust. Restoring an erring brother involves drying his feet so he may again walk the paths of righteousness-we must forgive and forget.

F. B. Meyer, who suggested some of the above analogies in his book, "Love to the Uttermost," says: "We do not often enough wash one another's feet. We are conscious of the imperfections of those around us; we are content to note and criticize them. We dare not attempt to remove them,  Partly because we are casual about our relationship with others and not honest to ourselves. Therefore it becomes very difficult to willingly stoop low enough. None is able to restore those that are overtaken in fault who does not count himself the chief of sinners and the least of saints: "We need more of this lowly, loving spirit.

Courtesy, "When the saints come storming in," Spiritual Encourager