Man-up and Get your Hands out of your Pockets

Man-up and Get your Hands out of your Pockets
Words of Faith 5-2-2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2023
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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1 Timothy 2
[8] I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

Sometimes we have difficulty figuring out what to do with our hands. Hands can be a bit awkward unless we are doing something with them. Some folks swing and click nervously. Others fold or twiddle or bite nails or pick at cuticles. But the most common thing men do is store them away in pockets. Paul had a suggestion for men. He said: Lift your hands in prayer.
Lifting hands in prayer is a very active image. It may not look sophisticated or relaxed, but the Psalms are actually filled with references to lifting holy hands in prayer. Open hands were a sign of peace-- no weapons and no harm to be done. Open hands, lifted before God, were also a sign of clean actions reflecting a clean heart.
Lifting hands was a visual way of lifting prayers and burdens before the Lord while recognizing that everything we need is received from God above. When we offer our hands to God, He cleanses them-- the actions of our lives-- and uses them.
But for Paul, there was another practical side to this sort of worship: When we lift our hands to God, it is hard to raise them against one another. When we lift our hearts to God, it is difficult to fill our hearts with anger toward each other. When we lift our voices to God, raising them against our loved ones is difficult. Worship makes for a peaceful church because the active pursuit of God can cure a world of hurt.
But there is even more to this. Lifting holy hands to God is the opposite of passivity. Did you notice that in this section, Paul addressed men specifically? Later he will talk to women, but Paul was pointing to a leadership issue here. Men are explicitly called to lead the way in prayer and worship. The point here was not that men should worship and women should not. Nor was he saying women were free to dispute angrily while men were not. He was pressing at one of the most fundamental issues for men-- they tend to be passive in spiritual matters.
Paul clearly said men are called directly to lead the way in prayer, peacemaking, and conflict resolution. Men are called pointedly to deal with life in a way that moderates anger, does not provoke, and seeks solutions from God.
That makes sense. If we go back and consider Adam's role in the fall of humankind, it was a passive one. Adam sat back and watched his wife chat with a serpent as she was drawn into temptation. Later he even blamed her for the whole mess. The truth was that Adam had been given dominion over all the living creatures and could have killed the serpent rather than allow his family to be drawn into a disaster. He failed to "man up" and protect his family (the human family) in the most basic way, just by praying! He could have prayed and sought the answers to the questions being asked, but instead, he kept his hands in his pockets, so to speak. (Adam actually had no pockets.)
The point is that the sinful nature is always characterized by a rebellious choice to go our own way rather than God's way. The part of the sin nature that is specifically "male" is passivity in times of spiritual conflict or attack by an enemy. The "male" sinful nature will sit back and allow someone else to lead his wife and children astray-- fail to teach, worship, pray, bless, or give-- and then grumble or dispute. The Word calls men to more than that at home and in the Body-- I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

Lord, I lift my heart to You in worship. I lift my hands to You in prayer. Create the peace in my life that I need-- peace with You and those around me. I pray for myself and the men in my life, family, and church to rise to the responsibility of prayer, worship, and peacemaking. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2023
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2023 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.