Delight in Working Hands

My wife and I were sitting in the cancer clinic this morning talking to a young nursing student. One of our statements resembled this; “It is now time for your generation to rise up…” We had been talking about the delight of doing mission work as an outgrowth of our relationship to Christ. We started at her age (40+ years ago) by opening our home and helping some needy people.

How can we not love those in need in view of Christ’s love and care for us? An open home led to knowing other needs in children, families who were hungry, and still others who were overseas in extremely challenging situations. Through the years we got to know Gertrude in Uganda. We became friends, then deeper friends, then sent her a few things, then visited, then sent a container, and visited some more.

She had the same view of God’s love–it motivated a love and care for others. Her helping others was a lifestyle.

It was our pleasure to work with her for several years. We stayed in each other’s homes, cooked for each other, and encouraged people to know the living Christ together. Her home was full of orphan children, the land around her home was used to produce food, and the school she started had hundreds of children. We would be just as likely to see her checking her crops as preaching the Word of God or holding a child or encouraging a teacher. We came along side as best we could by providing funds, some training, a little teaching/encouragement, and a container.

The work of her hands ceased a week ago. God took her home, but the stories continue, others continue to the work, and her mark on many lives is enduring.

What about you? Is serving Christ a church thing or is it a lifestyle? Do you know His love as you walk, or is it just a religious thing confined to a few events and times? Do you know the saving knowledge of Christ at all? Do you have a real knowledge of His redemptive power and are acquainted with His love? Does he speak to your soul and guide you?

If you know Christ, press on. Let his love show through your life style. If you do not know him or your not sure, are you willing to come to him, change your direction, and let him birth you again? That is what he does. You cannot make yourself good, he has to do something more fundamental. And, when he does it, you get to know his love forever. Then a lifestyle change to have “working hands” becomes a delight.

The sign in the image below is among the banana trees on her home in the western part of Uganda. I always remember the place as I would walk out her back door and meander through the fields in back of her home. Would you humbly ask the same thing, that He bless the work of your hands? A life in Christ is meant to show a trail of good works that glorifies the Father.