Are you the hands and feet?

God doesn't ask us to be His brain...he asks us to be his hands and feet.  Why?  Because it is in the doing, the works, that people will see Him.  "Jesus-know-it-alls" don't bring glory to God; they just seem Pharisaical to the people around them.  We should have the mind of Christ, thinking on things above, for our own personal growth in our relationship of being refined...and pruned, but to others...meekness and humility win.  

In Biblical times, one traveled on dusty, rocky roads which produced a lot of dust on the feet of the travelers.  When guests arrived, a host would wash their hands and feet so that they would be clean after their travels and before the guests would eat or dwell in the host's home. I was thinking about God wanting us to be His hands and feet to others.  The hands and feet of the body get the most dust on them, they get the dirtiest because they are used the most, and perhaps they are the body's most useful tools in being productive.  This would be true for us too; if we are doing the business of being God's hands and feet, we are going to get dirty...we are going to be used, look used.

Jesus got feisty sometimes, but it was always directed toward people who used His name and attached it to something He wouldn't do: money changers cheating people in the Temple, Pharisees caring more about rules than people, bickering disciples, etc.  Kindness and complete charity was shown to the society outcasts: tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, beggars, the maimed, the unclean...to all the "questionable" people in society.

We need to be the hands and feet of God out in the world; we should be getting dirty.  When was the last time? 

Faith without works is dead...spiritual piety without getting dirty in the trenches is dead...Biblical knowledge without the wisdom and discernment of how and when to apply the knowledge is dead.


James 2:19-26 (NLT)
19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.  
20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?  
21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  
22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.  
23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. 
24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. 
25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. 
26 Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.