“Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.”

‍John 13:9-10

When we think of Jesus washing only the feet of the Disciples, we are presented with three powerful spiritual truths regarding our Salvation and Sanctification.

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As Jesus washed their feet, Peter believed He needed more from Jesus than what He was currently giving him. Peter could only see what Jesus was saying and doing in the flesh and not the lesson the Lord was teaching the disciples in that moment.

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Wash my head?  No

The head, in the spiritual sense, represents our Salvation. Grace, Forgiveness, and Mercy are what our God is all about. Just because we have a bad day, or our walk with the Lord was not as close in that moment, we thankfully do not have to get saved repeatedly. When we ask the Lord to forgive us of our shortcomings, He will do so. The Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin for all time. The Perfect, Infinite Sacrifice needs no repetition.

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Wash my hands?  No

The hands represent our doing. We always need to remember we are saved by grace through faith and not of works. We are daily forgiven because of how good Jesus is, not how good we think we are. Jesus does not need to wash our hands, because Jesus has already done what needs to be done for us at Calvary’s Cross. The work is finished. The only thing we need for our hands is to have them open to receive every promise found in God’s Word.

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Wash my feet? Yes

Jesus Christ washing the feet represents the cleansing we are guaranteed, and needed, by the Holy Spirit as it regards our daily walk. Our walk with Jesus is a close one along the narrow way. As the Blood of Jesus forgives us from our sins past, present, and future, it is the Word of God that cleans up our conduct. If we follow Jesus closely between the covers of God’s Word, then our walk is made pure and free from the dirtiness of sin and filthiness of immorality.

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It has been said, “With God, obedience is better than worship.” It is easy to say with our mouth how much we love God, but obedience is a result of our love for God. We are called to hear the Word of God, but we are also called to be doers of God’s Word.

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The closer and cleaner our walk is with the Lord, the clearer we hear His Voice, our trust in Him deepens, and we become spiritually connected to Jesus. The closer, and more obedient we are to Jesus, those around us no longer see us, but Jesus Christ shining through us.