Our hands convey many messages—greeting, angry, loving, touching, and helping messages. These “hand messages” are very powerful. Think about a greeting message for instance. It can be warm or cold and indifferent depending on whether we are happy to see the other person. Angry messages can be harmful, hurtful and cruel. There is great negative power in angry messages from the hand.

Yet loving messages, touching messages and helping messages communicate powerful positive feelings like compassion, empathy, sympathy, concern, tolerance, kindness, mercy and charity. Have you ever thought about this? Have you ever felt the difference between a negatively charged message and a positively charged message from the hands of another? I believe we have all felt this in one form or another throughout our lives. Our hands can be used to separate or unite.

The questions we need to ask ourselves is what do my hands convey? Do I separate or do I unite? If we convey positive messages to others then we earn love, respect and trust from those with whom we are in relationship. This is so important to strong, loving and lasting relationships with family and friends. It is important to show sincere care for another.

As I think about the power in our hands, I am reminded of the loving hands of God. I recall all his hands have done including creation, birth, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. I recall how his hands, through the Holy Spirit, directed other’s hands to write the Holy Book; and I recall his messages of love written within those scriptures.

Because of his loving hands, he draws us into an eternal, trusting relationship with himself and he teaches us to imitate the same powerful love from our hands toward others. Do we have this trusting relationship with God? Can we learn to truly imitate the power of his love through our hands? He promises to help us. Let’s all yield to his loving hands. He even displays his hand in the clouds as a reminder to follow his love and his lead.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” Isaiah 41:10 (ESV).

Picture posted on Billy Graham FB page by CM DeCuir