Called to be God's Hand and Feet

BY REV GOH YONG KUANG

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

JOHN 1:14a

The gospel of John (1:14) speaks of the incarnational ministry of Jesus.  God became man and lived among the people. 

Many things that God did remains a mystery – who among us could explain how a virgin could conceive and give birth to a child (Luke 1:34); how God could become a human being (1 Timothy 3:16a), and why God would choose to love undeserving sinners like us (Romans 5:8). The full answer lies only in the mind of God alone.

However, we do know from Scripture that as a man, Jesus was in every aspect like us, except He was without sin.  By taking on flesh, the Son of God was perhaps, more human than some of us!  He has a full set of feelings & emotions (Isaiah 53:3; John 11:15a, 35; John 2:14-16) and was not afraid to display His physical weakness & limitation (John 4:6, Mark 4:38, Matthew 4:2). Scripture reveals that as a man, Jesus “learned obedience from the things He suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8)

John tells us that the Word became flesh and “dwelt among us”  Jesus, the living Word didn’t just become flesh and live a quiet, solitary life – rather He became flesh and “dwelt among us”  He was a people person – always there for the people and with the people.  They can find Him in the alleys and on the sidewalks; at the temple, in the market, hanging out with all kinds of people…which prompted His enemies to call him a “glutton & a drunkard, a friend of sinners & tax-collectors.” (Matthew 11:19) 

Dear friends, are we as real as Jesus was to the people?

Will others find us genuinely interested in their lives?

Are we willing to go where Jesus went?

We are called to be God’s hands and feet to a world desperately in need of His love! Sharing and demonstrating the love of Christ is not the work of a few – we are all called to be priests to one another (1 Peter 2:9) and to reach out to minister to one another (Philippians 2:4) now more than ever, especially during these difficult and trying times!  

O to be like Thee! Full of compassion, Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinners to find.

Thomas O Chisholm (1897)