Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

 

God made us with skin, and our skin was made to touch plus be touched.  With our touches we take in information and we send messages.  Our skin has the sensory capability to receive and give in a way that communicates love.

 

Consequently, healthy touch is an important love language that we see enacted throughout the Bible.

 

•From when Saul’s friends became valiant because they had been touched by God (I Sa. 10:26);

•To the healing of Isaiah’s sinful lips by God’s holy touch (Is. 6:7);

•To the  babies brought to Jesus for the blessing of His touch (Luke 18:15);

•To the sick woman healed by Jesus’ touch (Luke 8:46);

•To confidence formed by the Elder John from his hands having touched the evidence of his testimony (I John 1:1)

•To  Jesus offering for His body to be touched as proof of his resurrection (Luke 24:39).

 

God’s touch upon our lives is loving … and we extend His love by lovingly touching others.  God makes available to everyone this touch of love. 

 

Dramatically, we see the tension of love & touch played out in Jesus’ story of the loving father, prodigal son, and elder brother.  My hunch is that the brothers did not hug each other upon the younger one’s departure.  Nor did the younger one want to receive his father’s parting hug.  But when the prodigal repented to return home as the younger son, he was stunned and grateful by the loving touches his father gave him.  Jesus emphasized that the father conveyed his compassionate love by running to his returning son, and “threw his arms around him and kissed him.”  This remarkable response was a game changer.  The father’s touches showed the love he felt, and his touches encouraged everyone to share in this joyous love.

 

How has loving touch shaped your life’s story?  Several years ago I wrote the following after being with my father & mother for a tender hospital scene:

 

“These Hands”

In the pre-op room of a San Antonio hospital, while holding my parents’ hands for prayer before my dad’s surgery, the years rolled by in my mind.  I reflected and remembered.

    

These hands, now touched by time, touched my body the moment I was born.  These hands lifted me to their bosom.  These hands changed my clothes.  These hands held my hand while I walked my first steps.  These hands assembled my Christmas toys.  These hands clicked the camera to record my life.  These hands showed constant love to my brothers, my sister, and me.  

 

These hands bandaged our skinned knees and with a pat of encouragement said, “Get back out there.”  These hands stirred the morning oatmeal and made our school lunches.  These hands steered the car to and from the many places of our lives.  These hands, along with our hands, worked sweat equity into making land and a house into a home.  These hands threw the football and pitched the baseball.  These hands dried our tears and showed us how to recover from life’s mishaps.  These hands held the family Bible and the church hymnal.  

 

These hands labored hard and paid the bills.  These hands opened their billfold to buy us life’s necessities and opportunities.  These hands opened books of learning and signed report cards.  These hands handed over the car keys for outings of independence and kept the home light burning until our safe return.  These hands showed us the door of adventure and then wrote letters to ease our homesick hearts.  These hands, when needed, placed on our shoulders the message, “Be aware of God’s hope and beware of the Devil’s danger.”  In countless ways these hands blessed my brothers, my sister, and me.

 

May you feel yourself held in God’s loving hands.  May your hands lovingly hold others near to God.

 

Pastor Les Hollon

 

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.  And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.  She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.  “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.  When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”   But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet.  In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.  Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

-Luke 8: 42-48 (NIV)

 

So he got up and went to his father.  “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.  ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.

-Luke: 15: 20-28 (NIV)

 

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

 

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