I invite you to think about the hands of others in your life and ways they have served you. Maybe similar to the following:
The possibilities are endless. Caring comes in many forms and can be demonstrated in some common, uncomplicated ways. Caring for others usually doesn’t fail to happen because of a lack of ideas. It’s not a lack of opportunity.
There’s a story involving Jesus and an expert of the law that Luke describes in chapter 10 of his book and it brings to light one of our challenges with caring. Let’s take a look.
Hands for God’s Purposes (commitment to love God)
Luke 10:25-29 – 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
“And who is my neighbor?”
There it is. That’s one of the challenges of caring. We, like the expert of the law, want to know who we have to love…to care for. He does us a favor because he highlights part of the problem. We ask the wrong question when we ask who.
Hands devoted to caring is the commitment to and practice of uniquely using our spiritual gifts and natural talents to tangibly love others at the point of their need.
The landmark of faith known as they hands is not about the “who” we care for. It’s about the “why” we show care. When we ask “who”, we reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of caring. The truth about caring is that it is first a commitment to the belief that God has cared for us and given us the ability to care for others. We walk in faith to care for others and trust that God will use it for their good and for His glory.
Your hands can do great good when committed to God!
Pastor Dan
Here’s a few reminders and details for this week from our Mid-week Video Update: