Shake Off The Dust

I am a shower person.
Some people are bath people as they enjoy a long soak in a tub.
I really love a nice, hot shower.
The hot water makes me come alive in the morning.

We have a footed tub in our master bathroom.
An old-fashioned claw foot tub with a telephone spray.
The tub is long enough for an adult to get lost for a while with a good book.
The tub is big enough for a young child to feel as if they are in a swimming pool.

Graduating from baths to showers is a big deal for a small child.
The safe confines of the tub walls that used to surround them are gone.
There they are standing under a spray of water that is high above them.
There they are behind the shower curtain, unseen and alone.

They are behind the curtain like the wizard in the Wizard of Oz.
They are behind the curtain with no more tub toys to play with.
They are behind the curtain knowing that mom was within earshot if they needed help.
They are scared at first but they soon love the independence of getting their own shower.

When we vacation at the beach, most of the houses have outdoor showers.
I remember the first time my children ever saw one.
We were vacationing in Cape Cod in a charming little house.
They were so excited to think there was a shower outside and inside.

I knew the question would eventually come.
Mom, can I take a shower in the outside shower?
A real shower, I asked, or a get the sand off you kind of shower?
A real shower was the definitive answer.

The shower was enclosed in its own stall.
Soap was brought out, along with shampoo and a towel.
There was privacy, which was their big concern.
I still remember hearing them singing as they showered outside.

We have had outside showers in other places since then.
As they got older, the outside showers became simply a place to get the sand off your feet.
A place to wash off the beach residue that inevitably accumulates on your legs and toes.
A place to get clean before you came inside.

When Jesus called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them, “Take nothing for the journey – no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If the people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that town, as a testimony against them. (Luke 9:1-5)

Jewish hospitality was expected in that culture.
That is why Jesus told the Twelve not to bring any supplies.
Jesus was sending them to Jewish towns.
They were to rely on Jewish hospitality.

Jewish towns were expected to receive them, care for them, feed them, and listen to them.
If the people in the town did not show hospitality, the town was to be rebuked.
The way to show their rebuke was to shake the dust off their feet as they left that town.
Shaking the dust off their feet was a sign of disdain; it was a testimony against that town.

Jewish people often shook the dust off their feet as they left a Gentile region.
It was to signify that they would not even bring the dust of that place back with them.
Nothing defiled could enter their town.
Nothing against the Lord could touch the soles of their feet.

Can you imagine if we did that same thing in our culture?
Where would we shake the dust off our feet?
Would it be before a movie theater or before our own television sets?
Would it be before the water cooler at work or in front of our computer screens?

Nothing defiled can enter our eyes, our ears, or our heart.
Nothing against the Lord can touch the soles of our feet as we go about our day.
Impossible?
Not with the help of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit sanctifies.
Each day, the Spirit helps to make us holy, to make us more like Jesus.
We begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates.
What He hates is sin.

Not degrees of sin, but simply sin.
Sin that breaks our covenant with God.
Sin that breaks the sweet fellowship that is ours in Christ.
Sin that needs to be confessed as we ask to be forgiven.

Shaking the dust off our feet may not be a bad idea.
It is a physical reminder of a spiritual thing.
It is leaving behind that which offends a Holy God.
It is shaking off the last vestiges of the cultural dust as we step on Holy Ground.

Holy Ground is wherever God is found.
Since God is everywhere, and as believers God is in us, where we put our feet is holy.
We are walking on Holy Ground when we walk closely with our Lord Jesus.
Holy Ground is anywhere God is.

We defile a place with our sin.
We walk with the cultural dust on our feet.
We fail to do a thorough cleansing of the worldly residue.
We need to be rebuked by a God who loves us and wants to be with us.

I am the Lord your God, consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.
(Leviticus 11:44)

Take off your shoes.
Shake off the cultural dust.
Watch where you walk, what you see, and what you hear.
Be holy because He is holy.