Good morning, my brothers! Before you read today's article, take a quick look at your hands. They may be revealing something about your heart that you've never noticed before. Let’s go! 58-second read.

Listen to the audio version here:

Every hand tells a story.

A closed fist tells one story. An open hand tells another.

A closed fist is trying to hold on to something. Control. Security. Recognition. Comfort. Sometimes anger. Sometimes fear. Sometimes it's simply our way of saying, “I'm not ready to let go.”

An open hand tells a different story. It trusts. It receives. It gives. It welcomes. It serves. It has nothing to hide and nothing to prove.

Then I think about Jesus.

Throughout His life, His hands were open. They touched lepers no one else would touch. They welcomed little children. They broke bread with friends. They washed dirty feet. They blessed the broken and healed the hurting.

And then those same hands were stretched open on a cross.

He lived with open hands toward His Father and open hands toward people. His entire life was one continual offering.

That's why Romans 12:1 has been speaking to me in a fresh way.

For years I read that verse and focused on the sacrifice. Lately, I've found myself meditating on the sacrifice as worship.

Paul isn't asking us to grit our teeth and force our hands open. He's inviting us to live like Jesus. Open-handed before the Father. Open-handed toward others. Open-handed with everything we've been entrusted to hold, even our 'Isaacs.'

Open hands are the posture of a living sacrifice.

The longer I walk with Jesus, the more convinced I become that surrender doesn't grow out of stronger discipline. It grows out of deeper trust.

My prayer has become much simpler. As I open my Bible every morning, I start with this:

“Father, show me Yourself. Show me who You truly are.”

Because the more I know Him, the more I trust Him. The more I trust Him, the more naturally my hands open. And the more naturally my hands open, the more my life becomes what Paul calls, “your true and proper worship.”

Maybe worship begins long before the first song on Sunday morning.

Maybe worship begins the moment we open our hands before the Father and quietly say, “Everything I have... everything I am... everything I hope to become... is Yours.”

I think that's what Paul meant when he called it “your true and proper worship.”

·       What story are your hands telling today?

·       What are you still holding with a closed fist that the Father is inviting you to entrust to Him?

·       What would change this week if you began each morning with open hands and the prayer, “Father, show me Yourself”?

 -Will

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