How's your footwear?

Steady my steps with your Word of promise so nothing malign gets the better of me. (Psalm 119:133 MSG)

Steady steps require more than good footwear, but it sure goes a long way! God tells us to have our 'feet shod' with the 'readiness that comes from the gospel of peace'. (Ephesians 6:15) We might not think much about the 'readiness' of our 'footwear' spiritually, but if we want to do more than 'wobble' through life, we need a sound footing! Spiritual readiness isn't instant - it requires a commitment to the things God says will help us gain such readiness, especially the study of his Word.

In the times scripture was written, footwear was actually 'tied' to one's feet. These bindings actually held one's footwear securely under one's foot. Without the effects of the binding, the feet would be unprotected. We find the security of the gospel of peace providing a protective 'barrier' just as the footwear of those days did. The spiritual footing one maintains is a direct result of having this 'barrier' in place at all times.

How can one have this 'barrier' if he or she never gets into God's Word on their own? It would be impossible to constantly ride on the shoulders of someone else who has their feet shod, wouldn't it? Yet so many believers go week after week 'riding' on someone else's shoulders spiritually. They go to church on Sunday, hear the Word of God brought forth, learning bits and pieces of the gospel truth, but they seldom get into it the rest of the week. They are attempting to 'ride' on the shoulders of one who has 'prepared' for the walk!

Prepared hearts lead to prepared footing. We know both the one who brings peace into our lives and we understand his Word as it brings peace over and over again. Footing comes as we get into his Word and allow it to get into us. Do you know where our greatest footing is found? In his peace. Not just the absence of noise as some may think, but the true, everlasting, never-wavering peace of God. Complete, perfect peace because we know the one who brings such peace into our chaos. 

Footing is often disturbed because we did little to prepare for the things that disturb our peace. Trust me on this one, the enemy of our soul uses lots and lots of tactics to disturb our peace, so we need to understand it isn't our peace that he is after - he is after God's peace within us. That perfect, secure, and trusted peace that gives us the ability to stand even when the ground beneath us is crumbling away. Three things to consider in determining the stability of your footing: 

1) Is your relationship with Jesus close and intimate, or are you riding on someone else's shoulders? 

2) Are you taking time to truly meditate on his Word daily, or is your approach to his Word more or less 'casual' and infrequent?

3) Are you actively seeking to learn his ways, or are you stubbornly continuing to find your own?

Nothing will disturb our footing more than one of these things being 'off' in our lives. Just sayin!