The Power Of Touch

"A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.' Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' He said."

-Matthew 8:2-

Ever since my first experience on the mission field, I have strongly believed that the power of physical touch is the most genuine, pure sense that we have. Here lately, the Holy Spirit keeps pressing that fact on my heart; I can't seem to get it off my mind. We took some of our kids to camp this past weekend, and I was reminded at how important touch can be- negatively and positively. I looked into the big, brown eyes of a somewhat abandoned girl and could sense the brokenness. I have seen hurt written all over the face of an innocent child who feels worthless. I always think to myself in moments like those, "What can I do?" I know that I can't take away their hurt or brokenness, and it kills me, but I do know the One who can. As I laid my hands on these precious kids and prayed over them, the Holy Spirit reminded me that one of the ways He uses us as leaders is by touch.

I was reading through my journal from my first week spent in Nicaragua and came across this: "I believe that the power of touch is the strongest sense we have. The power of a hug is so overwhelming." How true is that, though? I've learned that I certainly don't always have all the answers, but I do have touch. When I find myself in positions of helplessness, all I can do is stretch out my arms and embrace the little girl with brokenness or the child with a feeling of worthlessness. It's okay to not know what to say. It's okay to solely depend on touch. Here are some reasons why:

1. Sometimes the hurt goes way beyond the words. There aren’t always words that you can say to fix everything.

2. I have found my own self in places where all I needed was for someone to physically embrace me and tell me that it’s all going to be okay.

3. People don’t always know what it’s like to feel loved.

4. Not everyone is blessed to know what a hug, or a pat on the back, even is or to hear someone tell them that they love them or that they’re proud of them.

5. Jesus is the One who set this example for us.

Have you ever noticed that the majority of the time that Jesus healed people, it started with touch. Notice in Matthew 8 when Jesus reached out his hand, touched the unclean man first and then healed him. That wasn’t by accident. On the flip side, you can take the woman with the blood disease in Luke 8 who had nothing left within her, and yet reached out to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe. There were tons of people around Jesus, touching Him, and yet He felt hers the most. No matter how unclean the leper was, Jesus touched him. No matter how wretched the woman with the blood disease was, she still reached out to touch Jesus.. and He noticed.

As I sit here reflecting on my life, I can see how strong the power of touch really is. When I was little, sometimes the only thing that could make me feel better was a hug from my mom. As I’m older, and my spiritual eyes have been opened wider, I see brokenness all around me and sense the urgency to just do something. I have learned that touch is a gift straight from the Lord Himself. I begin to feel convicted when I realize that I can go to another country and hug children who are complete and total strangers, then come home and can’t seem to do the same. As Christians, it’s crucial that we take those spiritual blinders off and began to truly love again. The most faithful child or teen in your Children’s Church or Youth Group may be at the end of their rope and you don’t even know it. It’s time to stop talking about living in love and actually live in love. You don’t always have to have all the answers, but you just have to reach out your hand and trust that Jesus is enough.