The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
November 13, 2005
In
This Issue:
What
to do With Your Hands
by
Steve Klein
Vital
Exhortations
by
Gilbert Alexander
What to do with Your Hands
Using our hands to help express thoughts when speaking comes naturally to most of us. But when a person is new to public speaking, their nervousness will sometimes cause them to have trouble figuring out what to do with their hands. New or inexperienced Christians sometimes have a similar problem when it comes to spiritual matters -- they are not sure what to do with their hands.
Human hands are just one of the many marvels of God's creation. The bones, joints, muscles, nerves and skin of the hands are all specially designed to enable us to accomplish many vital tasks. As anatomy professor Dr. Bünyamin Sahin has written, "Humans rely on the complex and intricate structure of the hands to survive. These specialized appendages not only help us to eat and work but also to express our thoughts through gestures and sign language." In the Bible, hands are tools used by men to serve God and accomplish His will. Here's what the Bible says to do with your hands.
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Keep them clean. The one who stands serving God must do so with clean hands. "Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart&ldots;" (Psalm 24:3-4). If you have ever been concerned about the cleanness of the hands of a person who was serving your food, you can appreciate the fact that God desires to be served with clean hands. James 4:8 commands us to "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded." The Lord will recognize and reward those who serve Him with clean hands. David said, "Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight" (Psalm 18:24).
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Keep them strong. Hebrews 12:12 commands us to "strengthen the hands which hang down." Hands are kept strong through exercise. Our hands should be busy with godly tasks daily. We should exercise ourselves in godliness (cf. 1 Timothy 4:8). Hands that do nothing on a regular basis to serve God will atrophy and become weak.
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Keep them working. The Lord expects to use our hands to provide for our physical necessities. The apostle Paul commanded the Thessalonians to "aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you" (1 Thessalonians 4:11). In spiritual matters, the Lord expects our hands to stay busy doing the work God has established. The Psalmist prayed, "And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands." (Psalm 90:17).
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Keep them giving. One of the reasons we are to work with our hands is so that we will have something in our hands to give to others. Ephesians 4:28 says, "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." The virtuous woman described in Proverbs 31:20, "extends her hand to the poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy."
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Keep them ignorant. In Matthew 6:3 Jesus said, "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" Obviously hands don't actually "know" things. Jesus is saying that our charitable deeds should "be in secret" (6:4). In this sense, one hand is not to know what the other is doing.
What are you doing with your hands? Are they soiled with the dirt of the world? Are they weak from inactivity? Are they full of riches that should have been shared with others? Let us determine to do the Lord's will with our hands. "Let us do with our might what our hands find to do."
--Steve Klein
Exhortation, a part of Christian responsibility, is encouragement through teaching. All Christians need it, and the Scriptures abundantly supply it. In two short verses, I Corinthians 16:13-14, the Apostle Paul gives five exhortations which are vital to the Christian's welfare. Please consider these, weigh them, and be moved by them.
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Watch ye. God's people must be watchful. Our adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, looking for someone to devour (Peter 5:8). We must constantly be on our guard against his cunning devices. We must be watchful of our manner of life, to keep ourselves in the right way, always being guided by the instructions of Christ. We must be watchful in view of the coming of the Lord. We are not in darkness that that day should overtake us as a thief, so let us watch and be sober (I Thes. 5: 2-11). Unless we are watchful, we will come to ruin.
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Stand fast in the faith. How much this exhortation is needed today! --- So many are turning aside from the faith to the devices of men. They seem to have lost confidence in the power of the gospel, and they seem to have forgotten the authority of the scriptures. The faith is the gospel of Christ - that which has been revealed. If one stands fast in the faith, he must hold fast to the gospel, and abide in its teachings. To fall short or to go beyond its instruction is to violate the authority of Christ. False systems of worship, carnal promotional schemes, violations of local autonomy through sponsoring church projects, church involvement in unauthorized activities (recreation, general welfare programs, joint activities with denominations, etc.), as well as individual violations of the teachings of Christ are a failure to stand fast in the faith (Jno.15:1-10; II John 9). To turn aside from the faith is to be lost.
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Quit you like men. This means to act in the courage of manhood. It is sad to see people who do not have the courage to stand by their convictions. We must be courageous to stand against sin of every form. We must be courageous to stand against denominationalism and its many errors. We must have the courage to stand against any introduction of unscriptural practices in the Lord's church. We must have the courage to "come out from among those" who insist on unscriptural practices and who would make us unwilling participants in those things we believe to be wrong. The fearful, the cowardly, will have their part in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8).
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Be strong. This exhortation is not given without the means of complying with it. We must be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might (Eph. 6:10). God has supplied the means. The armor of righteousness is made available through Christ. We must use it. Here is true strength. Men should never trust in their own strength, but rather depend on the Lord's strength. Nor should we doubt the sufficiency of that strength. It can fully enable us to overcome and to stand fast in the faith against every force of evil. Without the Lord's strength, we are totally without strength (Rom.5:6).
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Let all that you do be done in love. Love is the bond of perfectness (Col.3:14). It should be an underlying influence and motivation in all that we do. Think of all the troubles that would be avoided if people would act out of love instead of envy, hatred, strife, anger, or malice. Think how often divisions among God's people would not have occurred if brethren had exercised love toward on another. Love will move an individual to help the needy, to comfort the distressed to correct the erring, to restore one overtaken in a fault, to discipline the wayward child, to obey God's plan of salvation. And one could go on with the list. Love is not weak; it is strong. It is not compromising toward evil; it is steadfast in the truth. Let us love, not in word, but in deed and in truth (I John 3:18).
May the richness of Paul's exhortations in these verses help us all to be faithful children of God. It will, if we permit it to have sway in us.
-- Gilbert Alexander