July 21, 2021
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That statue in that church yard had been a beautiful statue. It was Jesus with his arms extended, arms wide open. Great statue! Then the vandals came along and broke off the hands. Strangely, the church decided not to repair the hands. They left it broken like that - the arms extended, but no hands. They put a sign that explained why. It simply said: "He has no hands but our hands."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Jesus Where You Live."
It's an amazing perspective to have on what we do every day, "I am the hands of Jesus in this place, doing what He would do." At work - the hands of Jesus. At home, I'm the hands of Jesus. In your neighborhood, your class, your organization - the hands of Jesus. That's a purpose-driven life!
In our word for today from the Word of God, there's a wonderful picture of our part in the work that Jesus wants to do in people's lives. It's in Mark 6, beginning with verse 37 - the story of the feeding of the 5,000. That's obviously something only Jesus could have done with five loaves of bread and two fish. But it's amazing how much He uses the hands of His disciples to deliver what He's making. When the disciples suggested that Jesus send the multitudes away because they had no way to feed them, Jesus shocked them by saying, "You give them something to eat." As a result, they found the boy with the loaves and fish.
The Bible goes on to say, "Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups." Then, after Jesus gave thanks for the loaves and fish, "He gave them to His disciples to set before the people." It must have looked like the miracle was coming from the disciples! Finally, "the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish."
Now, what we see in this miracle is the modus operandi of Jesus. He does things only He can do for people, but He delivers those things through His disciples. He doesn't need us but he chooses to use us as part of the process. That's you and me. And the people you see each day often need something from Jesus, whether they realize it or not. They need to feel His love, so Jesus prompts you to show them His love in some act of kindness, or caring, or rescue. He sends His encouragement through you to someone who's discouraged. He may send His financial provision through what He's given you to give. Every day, He wants you to leave (I'm going to come up with a word now) with your "needometer" on. And it should be finely tuned - going through your day, not just to survive or to get your "to do" list done, but to look for needs and to deliver gifts from Him. That's part of the daily adventure life can be when you belong to Christ and when you set out to represent Him each new day.
Ultimately, you are the hands of Jesus to deliver His greatest gift of all - the Good News of the rescue He made possible through His cross. When Paul reveals that we are "Christ's ambassadors" in our personal world, he said it was "as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you, on Christ's behalf: 'Be reconciled to God.'" (2 Corinthians 5:20). It's almost as if we approach each life-situation with this mindset: "Jesus couldn't be here today, so He's sent me to say what He would say and to do what He would do."
When you're all wrapped up in yourself and your needs, your hands will always be full of your stuff. But when you step up to serve Jesus each day, then your hands will be giving away what He has to give because what He started, He's left with us to carry on. In so many lives you know, Christ has no hands but your hands.