Live Palms Up

This coming Friday I will be in court as an expert witness in a case. I have done this in the past and it is never pleasant, no matter how prepared I am. It just puts you on edge.

But I’ll be okay. I just finished reading Bob Goff’s book Love Does and was thrilled with the goodness of God and His timing.

Mr. Goff writes about a very important technique he uses, both inside the courtroom and as a way of life. He tells his clients when they are on the witness stand, there is a very strict rule they must adhere to: they must always keep their hands open, palms up.

What is one of the first things we do when we’re angry, stressed, enraged or overwhelmed? We clench our fists. It’s our body’s natural reaction when faced with conflict.

The problem is, all that fist-clenching only bottles up the anger and causes a mess inside.

Living a life of clenched fists, constantly on the defensive, is not a joyful journey.

There’s a better way. Live palms up.

Try it. Place your hands on your lap and slowly uncurl your fingers. Turn your palms up to the sky. Breathe deeply. How does such a simple movement make you feel? Relaxed? Peaceful? There’s a reason why.

When we live a life of “palms up”, we are surrendering our agenda to God.

Palms up. Palms open. That’s what Jesus did. He lived, and died, with his hands opened wide.

I also recently read The Journey by John F. Toles. The main character, Michael, is speaking from the front of the church to the congregation about Jesus.

“We forget though, that He didn’t just die. The fact of the matter is He was brutally put to death. Do something for me. Hold out your hand, palm up. Ok, now looking at your hand, imagine it laying on a plank and someone has just placed the tip of a railroad spike in the center of your palm. Now imagine that same person picks up a mallet and raises it above their head and in one swift motion…BANG, drives the spike through you hand.”

“This happened to our Savior, but that was only one hand. I don’t know about you, but when they came to do it to my other hand, I would have been fighting with everything I had, but not our Savior. You know what He did? Without fighting, without a word of protest, without a plea for mercy, He held up His other hand, palm up.”

He did that willingly for all of us. To fulfill the original plan God had for us.

Jesus lived His whole life palms up, even to the end.

I don’t know about you, but that makes me incredibly grateful and encourages me to desire to live every day palms up too.

And you can bet that come Friday, when I am sitting on the witness stand, I will have my palms up on my lap!

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Artwork provided by Greg McGee

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