Issue 989 – Two Hands – February 22, 2023
Yesterday, I found myself caught up in listening to Neil Diamond’s 1969 hit song “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show.” Diamond wrote it after attending a revival tent meeting in Jackson, Mississippi and climbed to #22 on the charts. This is the cut I was listening to, it is where Diamond gives the song’s background.
Diamond was born to Jewish parents and has dabbled in various faiths. Some speculate that he may have come to faith in Christ, but it remains an open question.
One of the repeated words Diamond uses is Halle. It is a Hebrew word with roots meaning to praise or praise joyously. We see it in Halellu-Yah, “praise Yahweh or praise God.”
Intentionally or not, the song captures a powerful theological truth. The evangelist in the song speaks of having two hands, one to reach out to the hurting and needy and the other to reach up to God.
The Christian faith has always had both horizontal and vertical components. Our Father in Heaven created us to be in relationships on two planes. God designed us to be reconciled to Him through faith in Christ and an eternal relationship. We are also made to be in community with those people around us.
It’s no wonder that Jesus taught as He did.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Mark 12:29-33
Love God first. Love others as yourself. It is a theme that runs throughout Scripture.
A one-way relationship with God fails to fulfill our raison d’être. Simply reaching out in our own power to others is fruitless. It is, at least in part, why James penned the words,
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:14-17
My friends, the Good Lord has given most of us two hands. They are a practical illustration of how we are to live. Hold fast to God’s hand and reach out to share Him with a lost and hurting world.
Let’s use our hands to be the hands of Christ.
Be Blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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