You can learn so much about a person just by looking at their hands. You can tell what kind of work they do, if they are out in the sun much, and even about how tall they may be.  You can even see aging on someone’s hands.  I always think it’s funny when you see celebrities on TV that have had plastic surgery on their faces, but you can still look at their hands and tell basically how old they are. The hands seem to give tell-tell signs of a person.  Our hands talk to others whether we know it or not.

If you were to look at my hands– you could assume that I am short, I have little hands.  It’s obvious now that I have a nervous habit of tearing my nails, they look rough.  You can also tell that I have a passion for purity in relationships; I’m still wearing my True Love Waits ring from the 7th grade.  I’m fair-skinned, check out my palms and you can see my veins.  If you had looked at them just ten minutes, you would have been able to tell that I was up to something with a purple marker.  Look at your hands.  What could someone tell about you, just by looking at your hands?

As Christians, our hands should look different from the rest of the world’s hands.  Jesus tells us in John 13:35 that the world will know that we’re His disciples if we have love for one another.   Well, what does that look like?

James 2:14-16 says “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

It’s basically saying that if our lives don’t change—we don’t truly believe what we say we do.  Please don’t confuse this with the idea that we can somehow earn our salvation—we can’t.  We would NEVER get there!  The deeds that these verses are talking about don’t replace our faith; they confirm it.  These verses call us to go deeper than just believing in God.  They challenge us to commit our whole selves. 

 These verses challenge us to have hands of love and love is more than simple, warm feelings.  It’s an attitude that reveals itself in action.  It’s helping someone when it’s not convenient.  It’s giving, even when it hurts.  It’s devoting energy to serving someone that isn’t ourselves.

That might be really hard!  But that’s when people notice, because really—who serves someone that has hurt their feelings or drives them crazy?  When people see this kind of serving, they’re going to think you’re crazy and know that there’s no explanation other than that you belong to Jesus.

Think of someone that you really just can’t stand.  Maybe it’s someone at school that gives you a hard time every single day.  Maybe it’s a co-worker that you can never seem to look at things with, eye-to-eye.  Is it your relatives?  Who is it (or who are they)? 

What can you do to serve them anyway?