He Uses The Same Soap

In John's Gospel account of the Lord's Supper, we have the great story of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. After getting up from supper, preparing Himself for the task and pouring water into a basin, we read that Jesus began to wash the disciples' feet. When He came to Peter, Peter rhetorically asked Him, "Lord do You wash my feet?" After Jesus tells him that he will understand what He is doing later on, Peter tells Him, "Never shall you wash my feet!" Jesus responds again by telling Peter, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Peter answers back, "Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head." With words that teach an enduring lesson of truth, Jesus then tells Peter, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean". Of course the lesson that Jesus is teaching is one of great spiritual significance. The one who has believed in Jesus, the one who by grace and through faith has been "born again", has been "bathed". He or she has been washed clean by the precious blood of Jesus. But we still walk around in a world where sin is ever present and we still have the need to come to Jesus to "wash our feet". No, we need not "bathe again", just wash our feet. It is not a matter of salvation but of sanctification. I fear that too often we rejoice in the lack of our needed to be cleansed all over again and we forget of our need to wash our feet. As I thought about this it occurred to me that God uses the same "soap" to wash our feet that He uses to first bathe us and make us clean. Spirit led, my pastor does a great job of preaching and teaching the word of God. On most Sunday's the majority of the people in church are in need of having their feet washed. Like Peter, they represent those who have been bathed already. Of course, I always assume that there is a small number of those who are needing first to be bathed clean. Because God uses the same soap, my pastor need only preach Christ and Him crucified. He need only preach the matters of "first importance". He need only preach the word. God the Holy Spirit will use His word to wash the feet of one and use the same word to bathe and make entirely clean another. I am thankful that He uses the same soap. A soap that has made me "completely clean" and can one which can cleanse my feet.