Touch. One of the five senses right? Yet it is so much more. I have heard it said that a new born baby will die without being touched. And countless elderly people shrivel without touch.

How many of our young people turn to sex just to be touched? How many people visit the ER just to be touched?
How many people go to meeting upon meeting just to be touched?
How many are depressed just because they are not being touched?
How many people come to church dying to be touched?

A hand on the shoulder, a hug, a gentle hand on a child’s head, a pat on the back, holding hands – where has all of this gone in the iPad – iPhone – iPod generation?

We are touching things that don’t touch back.

Yes, we get words, music, video – but no touch. That is rather frightening I think.

I challenge myself and you today – reach out and touch someone today. There is healing in your hands. God put it there. And if you don’t touch anyone, how can God’s power flow through you?

Here is the post by Susan Fox that started me thinking about this:

WHAT A TOUCH CAN DO

See what happens with touch:

Matthew 8:3
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

Matthew 8:15
He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

Matthew 9:20
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.

Matthew 9:21
She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”

Matthew 9:29
Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”;

Matthew 14:36
and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Matthew 17:7
But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”

Matthew 20:34
Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Mark 1:41
Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

Mark 3:10
For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.

Mark 5:27
When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,

Mark 5:28
because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Mark 5:30
At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

Mark 5:31
“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

Mark 6:56
And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Mark 7:33
After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue.

Mark 8:22
[ Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida ] They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.

Luke 5:13
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

Luke 6:19
and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Luke 7:14
Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!”

Luke 8:44
She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

Luke 8:45
“Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

Luke 8:46
But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Luke 8:47
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.

Luke 22:51
But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

Luke 24:39
Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Acts 19:12
so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

1 John 1:1-3
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

 

(Source: New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.)

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