Friday, Jan 3

Scriptures: James 1:22a (KJV) “But, be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,”

Matthew 25:37-40 (KJV) – “Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Matthew 25:21 (KJV) – ^“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

Message: This is a story that I heard at a convention years ago.

There was a church, which was said be in Europe, that had a considerable amount of damage from bombings in World War II. Inside this church, close to the altar was a statue of Jesus which was almost unharmed. He was standing up with His arms outstretched. However, there were no hands; the hands had been blown off from all the blasts in the area.

During the rebuilding of the church the congregation, after some deliberation, decided not to replace the hands of Jesus. Instead, they put a small plaque at His feet which read: “I have no hands but yours”, which was taken from the words of St Teresa of Avila, a 16^th Century Carmelite Nun from Spain: “Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work on earth. If we don’t feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, entertain the stranger, visit the imprisoned, and clothe the naked, who will?”.

The provenance of this story is unclear, however the truth revealed through this story is a great reminder that Jesus only has our hands to do His work on earth. So let’s use our hands for Him as he calls us to do.

Prayer: Father, give us strength to live our lives so that one day You will say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”. Thank You Jesus, our Good Shepherd, who protects us and shows us the way to be Your hands on earth. Amen.

Russ Fatic