Speaking God's Love Language: Physical Touch

"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Matthew 25:40b

Since I was a child, I've always envied the little children who grew up during the time of Jesus' ministry. You know, those children who clamored around Jesus prior to the disciples attempt to 'shoo' them away. I wanted to be one of those children! I wanted to have the great privilege of crawling up into Jesus' lap and maybe even stroking His hair with my fingers, as little girls like to do. Well, unfortunately, I was born almost 2000 years too late!

You and I might not have had the opportunity to physically crawl into the lap of God or even grasp for the hem of His garment, but we do have the opportunity to touch the very heart of God. Jesus tells us in the verse above that whatever we physically do for someone here on Earth, then we're essentially doing it for Him.

When we wrap our arms around someone who needs encouragement, it's as if we've just embraced God.
When we grab the hands of a friend who is in need of prayer, it's as if we've just held the Hands of God.
When we cuddle a child in our lap and show them the love of God, it's as if we've just loved on God.
When we extend a hand to a homeless person or through the bars of a jail cell, it's as if we've just held our hand out to God.

So we can't travel back in time and walk hand in hand with Jesus, but look at all we can do to touch the heart of God right here and right now! What's great about how all of this works is that while we are touching the heart of God, we are also being a blessing to someone in need.

Have you blessed anyone lately with a physical touch? We never know how much a gentle hug or a pat on the back might mean to someone. We are surrounded everyday by people who are hurting and in need of encouragement. Would you be the gentle hands of God today to someone who needs to feel His touch?

Comments

Heartfelt Reflections of a Country Church

The smells, sounds, and people of country churches stir an emotion within me that is deep and powerful. For those who have never had the opportunity to experience this blessed experience, let me explain. From the moment you step into the vestibule (never called a foyer in a rural church), you instantly smell the footsteps of every person who has crossed that threshold - the mother with a load of kids in tow, the farmer, the truck driver, the wayward child. If those paneled walls could talk, they would tell of grace and guilt and sorrow and joy that couldn’t be hidden on the faces of the souls that dared to cross that doorway. Those walls would write books of clinched fists, tears on the altar, and singing from the saints. The smell of the aged carpet, whose color may have caused an outright quarrel in a business meeting, the creak of the floor, and the golden memorial tags lead you to a nostalgic thing of days gone by - a pew, padded if you’re lucky. As you wait for the ob...

I love my kids, BUT. . . .

"Schoolhouse Rock" was one of mine and my husband's favorite educational past times. Bob Dorough, writer for "Schoolhosue Rock," was a genius when he put educational factoids to quirky music and cute cartoons. From the preamble to the Constitution, to parts of speech, multiplication facts, how electricity works, and much more, Mr. Dorough slyly disguised learning and actually made it fun! Like all good parents, we passed this educational relic on to our kids. One of our favorite songs from "Schoolhouse Rock" is without a doubt " Conjunction Junction ." Its jazzy rhythm easily gets stuck in your head for the rest of your day ( sorry in advance! ). This song teaches how conjunctions mechanically work in a sentence and what their purpose is. The conjunction 'BUT' is one that we use all the time to connect two sentences or a clause to a sentence. "I like pizza, BUT I don't like olives on it." "I want to...

Taking the Mask Off

If I’ve learned anything over the last few weeks of wearing masks when going out in public, it’s that wearing a mask makes it hard to breathe. The trapped air recirculating in and out gets thick and burdensome. The same is true for the invisible mask I wear on the days that I’m trying to hide the reality of what’s going on below the surface. There comes a point when the air that has gotten trapped between my invisible mask and my unfortunate reality gets so heavy that ripping it off and gasping for a dose of fresh, life-giving oxygen is the only remedy. ( Cue the proverbial mask selfie that everyone has had to take during quarantine. ) I think many of us frequently wear a mask, intentionally or unintentionally, to hide the reality of what’s underneath. We mask up to present a façade. A watered-down version of the true us. A suffocating misrepresentation of our current existence. We’re all guilty. One of my favorite person...

Whole Heart Devotion

Search This Blog