Shoes come in so many different varieties such as:   flips flops, high heels, loafers, sandals, wedges, flats, walking, running, etc.  What’s in your closet?  When my daughter got married, she literally had 100 pairs of shoes that had to be packed.  There are not 100 in my closet, but there are probably too many.  We need shoes for every season and every outfit.  After all, we have to match.  One of the necessities I find necessary now-a-days is comfort.  My feet need to feel good in what is on them.  Have you ever worn the wrong shoes?

The wrong shoes and socks are worn often by Mom.  She will wear my dad’s shoes and his socks.  She doesn’t have the ability to feel how much too big they are.  She will have on his socks with the heel of the sock past her ankle pushing with all her might to get her feet in her shoes.  The socks are too big and bulky for her but she doesn’t realize it.  Or she may be wearing Dad’s shoes but she doesn’t notice that they are flopping as she walks.  Her ability to understand too big or too small is gone.  In fact, she will argue with me when I try to put her shoes on in place of my dad’s shoes.  She says that her shoes are not hers.  So when I ask the question, “Whose shoes are you wearing?”  She answers, “Mine”.  There is nothing I can do to convince her otherwise.

There are times in our lives when we are wearing the wrong shoes.  As followers of Christ we are to wear, “…as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6:15.  We need to be wearing our gospel shoes.  The truth is we forget to put the right shoes on often.  The ones that match our identity are the gospel shoes but we choose a different pair from our spiritual closet.

Spiritual Flip Flops

We are wearing these shoes when we live in uncommitted and undecided ways.  When we live this way we will be swept away by whoever is in front of us.  These shoes do not provide for a firm foundation because it is always moving beneath our feet.  We are to be committed to the Lord and then make decisions based on our commitment to Him and His commitment to us.

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.”  Psalm 37:5

Spiritual Loafers

These shoes really need no explanation.  We know when we are wearing them because we put our feet up.  We are at rest in these shoes except we can go beyond rest to lazy.  There are things that need to be accomplished but we don’t even try to move.  It’s just too hard to get into the work or we don’t want to right now or someday when I get to it.  These are some of our excuses but these excuses do not excuse us.  We need to redeem the time the Lord has given us.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”  Ephesians 5:15-16

Spiritual Heels

If we are wearing spiritual heels, we are inconsiderate and unkind.  Life is all about us and what we want out of it.  There is no thought of how our life will affect others.  The focus is “me” without an awareness of feelings of others.  When we wear these shoes we feel good about ourselves and make sure that no one gets in the way of our good feelings.  These shoes are quite selfish.  We are called to be kind to one another so that it is Christ who is being reflected by us.

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

This is not an exhaustive list of the shoes we can put on each day.  These are just a few of the examples of shoes that are not really ours to wear.  Our shoes are the gospel of peace, which means we are always ready to proclaim the gospel, to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, and seek to be a taste of the kingdom.  As followers of Christ, we need to seek to know God more and more each day so that we will be able to recognize our shoes.  Too many times we are like my mom and have lost the ability to know which shoes are wrong for us.  Let’s make it our goal to be able to answer the question, “Whose shoes are you wearing?” with the right answer.  The right answer is HIS, the gospel of peace given to us by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.