hands & feet

be the hands and feet of Jesus. what does that really mean? i know i'm always using #handsandfeet over on ig. but should it mean something more??

here's some thoughts from this morning. 

1. hands and feet - being doers of The Word (1 john 3:17-18). doing what The Bible tells us to do. sharing the gospel (romans 10:14-15 NIV). caring for the widows and orphans (james 1:27). loving one another (john 13:34-35). encouraging one another (1 thess. 5:9-11).

2. hands and feet - living as Jesus' hands and feet. his hands and feet carry the holes of the crucifixion. in luke 24:40 he tells the disciples to see his hands and feet to know it was him. he could have easily healed those wounds. but instead they were left visible. his marks of love. symbols of the passion he has for us. that he was willing to die for you. for me. that he came back and conquered death. for you. for me. in john 20:27 he tells thomas to touch his (crucified) hands so that he would stop doubting it is him and to believe.  

be the hands and feet of Jesus. maybe it means a little more than doing good deeds. although that is an important part of being a follower of Christ. maybe it means dying to ourselves. daily. to seek him and his perfect will & to not be okay with living in his permissive will. ya know, he gives us freedom of choice. he wants us to choose. to choose him. every time. every day. 

be the hands and feet of Jesus. maybe we need live out galatians 2:20. to be crucified with Christ. daily. to lay down our lives for him. daily. for others. daily. in the name of the gospel. daily.

it's in the breathe to breathe that his heart becomes our heart. 

it's in the moment to moment that his words become our words.

it's in the day to day that we choose to live for him and not for ourselves. 

it's in the day to day that we choose to be the hands and feet of Jesus. 

it's not a past we can rely on. it's not a future we can hope for. it's in the now. today.

Galatians 2:20 The Message

19-21 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.