Blog
Sandals
Friday, November 21, 2025 by Rick Stockwell
Sandals
READ Exodus 3:1-6
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
-- Exodus 3:5 (NIV)
One of the great joys of my life is spending time with my grandchildren. At the toddler stage, they often need help getting their shoes on. After doing that for my 22-month-old granddaughter, Claire, I sat down and began putting my own shoes on. To my surprise, she shuffled over and began helping me put my shoes on. What a kind and thoughtful gesture from someone so young.
In the reading for today, Moses approached a bush in the desert that was burning, but not consumed. God spoke to Moses out of the bush and told him to take off his sandals, because the ground on which he was standing was holy. Why was the ground holy? Because God was present and he is holy. Nothing impure can be in his presence (Revelation 21:27).
We are commanded to be holy because God is holy (Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:16). What does it mean for a human to be holy? Positionally, we must have applied Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross to our account. Experientially, we must strive to follow God’s ways in all we do, and immediately confess and repent of any divergences. Ultimately, we are not saved by living a perfect life, but by trusting that the blood shed by Jesus Christ on the cross has cleansed us of all of our sins.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“Be holy, for I am holy.”
Prayer: Father in heaven, please help us to be holy in all that we do.
Prayer Focus: PEOPLE WHO MAKE AND SELL SANDALS
Rick Stockwell
Rick Stockwell retired from a career in information technology, teaches Sunday school for first graders, served as an elder at his church, has been married for thirty-five years, and has two children and six grandchildren.
Rick is the author of two novels in his Heavenly Realms series called The Wall and The Battle. Audio, eBook and paperback versions are accessible via this link: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07HQ8G3MJ
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