Mensa Otabil - Working Hands
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We’re talking about our hands. This week, we’ve talked about clean hands. We’re discussing trained hands, but trained hands must be put to work. So today, we’re talking about working hands.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 28: «Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.» Trained hands must be put to work. You don’t get trained by God and sit aloof, waiting for miracles to happen. God trains us and places us to work.
In our passage today, the Apostle Paul gives clear instructions on how Christians should conduct their lives in a community. It’s an instruction that likely addresses some problems in the Ephesian church, which I believe reflect our contemporary church issues as well. The problem was that Christians were not engaged in profitable work, and this issue of not working led to Christians misconducting themselves, sometimes with one another.
To solve these problems, he gives Christians a new assignment. Instead of stealing, he instructs them to become givers. Can you imagine the significant shift from being someone who takes from others to someone who gives to others? For a person to transition from a taker to a giver, something significant must happen. James says that what transforms us from takers to givers is work.
Work helps us solve several problems, and I want to point your attention to three of them. The first is that Christians will no longer be stealing. Why? Because when you value work, you also value every dollar that you earn. You not only value your own money but also respect other people’s property because you understand the effort they put into acquiring what they have. As we value other people’s property, we don’t take what belongs to others, so working hands will keep us from stealing.
The second thing that working hands will help us do is allow us to have something good, as the Apostle says. Work enables us to live a good, better life. While it may not solve all our problems, it allows us to live better than if we were not working, providing a good feeling and a sense of confidence. Do you remember the first time you worked, earned a salary, and bought something with your own money? Maybe it was a pair of shoes or a shirt. You felt so proud that work allowed you to do something good for yourself. So that’s the second point: you work, don’t steal, and do something good.
The third point is that you help others in need. You become a blessing to other people. When someone is in need and you’re able to contribute, it feels rewarding. Remember how good it feels when you’re able to help someone who needs medical assistance and you can contribute towards that? That sense of being useful in another person’s life is a benefit of work.
So, God wants our hands to be clean. He will train our hands and put us to work so we do not take what doesn’t belong to us. He’ll put us to work so we can obtain something good for ourselves, and he puts us to work so we can be givers to others, to be helpful to those in need. May the Lord bless the work of your hands and help us become fruitful in all that we do.
Let’s pray together. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, give me the grace to work profitably with my hands. In Jesus' name, amen.» May the Lord bless your hands and cause your hands to be fruitful. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.