Girl, Wash His Feet

Welcome to Hot Tea and the Holy Spirit!!

My goal with this blog is simply to have a space to write out and work through some of the things God puts on my heart. 

I hope it will be a place of encouragement for anyone who stumbles upon it. 

I wrote the following essay a few years ago and never found a home for it. I re-read it today and decided it needed a place to live. 

It speaks to my heart, so here it is, just in case it speaks to yours.

Girl, Wash His Feet

Recently I read--okay, devoured--the Rachel Hollis bestseller Girl, Wash Your Face.

Witty, relatable, empowering, it was hard to put down. As a motivational tome for women, it lived up to the hype.

And yet, as I gobbled up the pages, there was a check in my spirit. Every time the book mentioned God, Jesus, religion, spirituality, etc., it seemed like something was missing.

Hollis encourages women to rise above the lies they believe about themselves and take ownership of their potential; to dream big and follow those dreams with a vengeance; to get out of whatever mud-pits they have sunk into, wash the gunk off their faces, and start living to the fullest. This is great stuff, right? I am motivated to throw up some “girl power” high fives just thinking about it. And yet, as good and well-meaning as all this is, there is a danger here if we readers are not careful--a spirit of striving that begs to be tempered by the Holy Spirit.

Women like me devouring this book need to be reminded that it is better to abide within God’s grace than to strive for our own glory. Jesus is the dispeller of the lies that oppress us. Jesus came that we might have life to the fullest. Jesus wants to give us our desires, but first He wants to BE our desire.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (ESV) This verse used to really trip me up. I’d be like, “Ok, God. I had a great time at church today, sang a lot of great worship songs...now, where are we on that beach house I’ve been asking about?” Just kidding...sort of. One day, however, it finally clicked: if I am truly delighting myself in the Lord, HE will be my desire. He WILL give me the desires of my heart because He will not keep HIMSELF from someone who is seeking Him.

When we kneel at the altar of self-actualization rather than the foot of the cross, our dreams and our ability to fulfil them become our gods. We become our god. And when we are convinced that we can--and must--seize the reins on our lives and make our dreams reality, the stress of living up to the expectations we have forced upon ourselves can be debilitating at worst and distracting at best.

Listen ladies: goals are good. Goals are great!  But God is greater. Are we seeking Him first? Are we letting our pursuit of Him guide us to the goals that matter...or are we too consumed with mattering?

As I consider what it might look like to prioritize Jesus over my to-do list, I can’t help thinking of Mary of Bethany:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed--or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42 NIV

Before Pinterest and Instagram, before lifestyle blogs and “leaning in”, Martha was distracted. Martha had a plan and a purpose and important preparations to prioritize. Martha was doing good things! But Mary sat at the Lord’s feet. Mary listened to what He said. Mary chose abiding over striving. Mary chose what was better. 

The NASB translation of Psalm 46:10 reads, “Cease striving, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” So much of what we read or watch or hear encourages us to be the loudest voice in the room. We are encouraged to strive to take God’s place in our lives. I will be exalted on the Internet! I will be exalted in the workplace! I will be exalted in my home! 

Mary saw that it was better to cease striving, better to be still at the feet of her Savior, than to try to BE her own savior. But this does not mean that Mary was passive, unmotivated, or inactive. Rather, abiding in His presence motivated her to passionate action:

And standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 

Luke 7:38 ESV

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

John 12:3 NIV

People thought these choices were a little out there, but Mary didn’t pass her choices through the sieve of the world or the sieve of getting ahead. Mary’s filter was Jesus. Jesus first, Jesus only. It wasn’t sexy, flashy, or likely to fatten her bank account. But it was better.

Much like the rest of us, Mary wasn’t perfect. But she chose to spend as much time as possible with the best role model imaginable. So hear me, ladies. Chase your dreams. Take the world by storm. But let’s keep first things first. Wash your face; just don’t forget to wash His feet.

Author's note: This essay is in no way meant to be a critique on Rachel Hollis or Girl, Wash Your Face. Rather, it is meant as an invitation to pause in the midst of our runaway schedules in our how-to-hustle-harder culture and simply receive His peace.

2nd note: Bible scholars differ on whether the "sinful woman" in Luke 7 is in fact Mary of Bethany. While it is impossible to know for sure, this post assumes the woman anointing Jesus' feet in Luke's account is the same as that of John 12.