In 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 Paul talks about our human body having many members and how all the body members, though many, are one body. Then Paul says, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. God arranged the members in the body, each as He chose.
If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. Now, while all Christians make up the body of Christ, each Christian has a unique function to fill as part of that one body.
One role every believer is called to fill: being the hands and feet of Christ. What does it mean to be the hands and feet of Christ?
The hands of Jesus belong to all who are willing to do His work. Hands genuinely are the instruments of our work, so if we do the work of Jesus, that means we do the things Jesus did.
Scripture outlines Christ’s work and the work He calls us to accomplish with our hands. Jesus took care of the poor (Deuteronomy 15:11); fed the hungry (Isaiah 58:10); promoted justice and mercy (Micah 6:8); forgave (Matthew 6:14-15); was hospitable to strangers (Matthew 25:35); loved His neighbors (Mark 12:30-31); healed the sick (Luke 10:9); promoted peace (Romans 12:18); looked after the captive, the prisoner, and the oppressed (Hebrews 13:3); and cloth the needy (1 John 3:17). Jesus even said that whatever we do for one of the least of our fellow humans, it is as if we did it for Him (Matthew 25:40).
Hands work, and the feet of Jesus belong to all willing to be moved by God. Sometimes that movement is as short as crossing the street; sometimes, that movement is as long as going to the other side of the earth. Regardless of the distance, if you are willing to let God move you, you are the feet of Jesus.
There are numerous stories in the Bible where God called men, women and children to step out in faith and follow Him. In Genesis 12:1, God instructs Abraham to leave his country and relatives and go to a land He would later show him. Abraham believed God. The Bible says in Genesis 12:6 that Abraham’s belief was credited to him as righteousness.
Ruth, according to Ruth 1:14-22, is a woman who left her family to serve her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth told Naomi in Ruth 1:16-17 that Naomi’s people were now her people, and that Naomi’s God would now be her God. Because Ruth was willing to let God move her, she became great-grandmother to King David and is mentioned in Jesus’ lineage in Matthew 1:5.
God calls the child Samuel. In 1 Samuel 1-3, Samuel his home as a boy to serve God in His temple. Samuel would grow to be the man who anoints David as king.
Everyone mentioned was willing to allow God to move them, becoming the feet of God in this world. May we join the ranks of our ancestors in the faith who allowed God to move their feet and guide their hands. May we be about His kingdom work — the hands and feet of Christ extended in this earth.
