Thursday, October 14, 2010

Lending a hand

"Hey, can you give me a hand?" A giant man with a hurting knee was asking me to help him up the steps and out of the hot tub at the fitness center.

"Sure, " I said, and I used both hands to help him out.

He said thanks. And I felt good helping a fellow human being, even in this small, simple way.

Jesus is God's hand out to us in all our needs. He's God offering us a hand up and out of all that keeps us from the fullness of life.

And as the followers of Jesus, we're to be His hands outstretched to the world and to human beings in their needs.

That man's need at the fitness center was for help out of the hot tub.

But other needs confront us daily: a hungry person needs food, a lonely person needs a visit, a discouraged person needs a call or note of encouragement.

We might not hear the words, "Hey, can you give me a hand?" with our actual ears, but we certainly will hear those words, that cry for help, with our spiritual ears.

That's Christ in the other person's need, seeking our response.

In taking that man's hands in mine, I was taking Christ's hands in mine, and Christ was taking mine in His, and there was communion in that moment of compassion. And joy.

May you meet Christ, too, in answering His call, "Hey, can you give me a hand?"

1 comment:

  1. Ken, I appreciate your faithful offering, here. THis it seems to me is pretty universal and cannot be denied! It's really up to us isn't it?

    ReplyDelete

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