Ultimately God gave us hands to work for Him. Idleness has no place in the Christian life. The proverb says it well, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Not diligent hands for selfish gain like the rich man who built bigger barns, but diligent hands for faithful stewardship of God’s resources. Busy hands to work and build and help and produce.
How easy for us to sit back and watch television, to extend coffee breaks, work halfheartedly, and campaign for better working conditions. How prone we are to fill church pews, to hear, to talk, but never to do anything as a result. James questions such inactivity. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). Busy hands are needed to work and to help those in need.
Because Jesus Christ’s busy hands were pierced for us and He has made our hands clean by His shed blood, we offer Him our hands for His tasks. With praying hands we seek His will and His strength. From His open hands we receive both the opportunities and the ability to be busy. At home with dishes, garbage, and laundry; at work with wrench, word processor, and assembly line; in our community with food basket, paint brush, and snow shovel, we lend our busy hands to the ongoing opportunities for service. His saving hands. Our busy hands. A partnership of love.
PRAYER: Lord, forgive us for idleness. By Your death on the cross, empower us with busy hands in Your service. Amen.
(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)