Lessons from my Left Hand Podcast Episode

Can you imagine the right and the left hands arguing with each other or fighting with each other? Welcome everyone to Breaking Bread, the podcast brought to you by Apostolic Christian Counseling and Family Services. Excellent to have you along. Arlan, welcome back into the studio today. Thanks Matt. It’s good to be back. 

Yeah. So Arlan, Paul writes that we are members one of another. Paul also writes and expands really what that looks like in many places, but probably the most classic place is first Corinthians 12. Yeah. Talking about the foot and the hand and the eye and the hearing, where would the hearing be? 

The members of the body doing their function. And not necessarily coveting the other functions of the other body. Beautiful passage. I love that, but I am like super inspired, Arlan, by my left hand. And I think I have a lot to learn from my left hand. And what I mean by that is, my left hand is my less dominant hand. 

Okay. Right? It’s not like the foot and the hand or the eye and the ear. It can do everything the right hand can do, but just not as well. Okay. Thank you. And yet, it lives with my body so well. This really uncommon humility that my left hand has. Yeah, I love the example and I love the analogy. I mean, let’s build that just a little bit. 

When you play baseball or whatever, one hand is going to be dominant. My right hand gets the nod. Right. You know, it’s going to be the one that throws and the other one’s going to take its place. And my left hand could certainly weave an argument of self-loathing, right? It has all the exact same number of muscles, same tendons, same size. 

Same supposed dexterity. I mean, it should be able to do right. But it just doesn’t, if ever there was a reason for jealousy, envy. Yeah. That’s where my mind was going, right? It speaks into this place of like, okay, jealousy or envy, or why am I not good enough or why can’t I do that? And there’s this humility. 

I like what you say, humility, a humbleness that comes from the left hand, you know, letting the right hand rightfully do what it’s been able to do better. And I think envy and jealousy are words that certainly manifest themselves in all of our experiences. These are not words that are far from us. 

And they creep in when we see another, perhaps a member or something, right? Doing something better or able to do more. We should be able to do that same thing or purchase that same stuff or have that same influence, but we don’t. Yeah. I mean, this is the heart of comparison, right? Comparison starts to come in, which Paul speaks to again in Corinthians. He says, watch when you compare yourself among yourself, because that’s not wise. Proverbs speak of this idea of envy, who can stand before envy. Shakespeare even said, envy is a monster that breeds confusion, and it can really affect how we engage with each other within the body. Can you imagine the right and the left hand arguing with each other or fighting with each other? 

It really makes infighting seem silly. Yeah. If we follow Paul’s analogy and believe it to be a good one. What do you think our less dominant hand would do, would say if we were to interview it, like, how do you live this life so well? I think that’s a great question. I mean, part of it is knowing who we are and where we properly fit, right? 

Left hand versus right hand, which is dominant, which is going to be supportive in this role. But that, I think, is only really played out well when we know about the bigger picture, or we see the common purpose of the bigger picture. We’re on the same team. We’re in the same body, we’re working together for that same purpose, and neither of us is the head. 

I mean, the head is Christ, right? And so, he’s the one that’s getting the attention or should get the glory, and when a baseball player throws somebody out at home, they don’t say, look at his right hand, right? The praise goes to the head. Right. The praise goes to the person. You know, I really like that. 

And even as you first said, we’re on the same team, and then you said, we’re in the same body. I really think in the same body is the extension that we need to make because often when we just see ourselves on the same team, there’s still a lot of comparison. But as soon as you take that leap that we are in the same body, this is the same body, the same head and the head gets the glory. 

All of a sudden that makes sense. If we’re struggling with jealousy or envy, and if we can be really honest with ourselves, it really pushes us underneath the surface to say, what’s driving this? And do I really, to your point, see myself as part of the same body? Do I really see Christ as the head? Am I really willing to take my place within that body, whatever role that might be? 

And on the flip side, if we’re the dominant hand or the right hand, do we take undue glory for that, right? And not seeing even our function as a function of the head. Yeah. Or the complementary role that others play even in helping us do what we do, right? And how that all works together. It places us in our proper position. 

It places Christ in his proper position. And it really should push us to a place of appreciation, of thankfulness, of just humility, to see how everything works together for that greater good. What else might a less dominant hand offer? So Matt, when I was younger, I broke my hand and the other hand had to compensate. And there are times when that happens, when maybe we’re predominantly right handed and something happens that’s not able to do its function and the left hand has to step in and do what it can, do the best that it can, right? And there’s a beauty in that, in the body working together to compensate and to support each other in some way, shape, or form. 

Maybe we’re not as strong and yet we do the best that we can. I love that. I mean, that even makes me smile as I think of, you know, I said at the beginning, I’m so proud of my left hand, I mean, for it to have that humility to say, all right, hey, I need to step up. I’m going to pick up the pen and write because the dominant hand can’t do it. 

And I’m not going to do very well, but I’m going to do the best I can. And my left hand does that. And you know, the other thing, Arlan, as soon as my dominant hand is well and better, it gets the job back. My left is okay with transition in and out of service, even when it doesn’t serve as well as the other. 

Yeah. You know, this is a very personal topic to me in some ways, because there are times when I have to really walk through this. And there was a period in my life, not that long ago, when I found it good to daily read through John 3, the last part of John 3. And there’s a beautiful passage there where John the Baptist, you know, for a while, he was the right hand. 

He was the one sharing the message and preparing people for the way of the Lord. But then when Christ came, John fades into the background. And you see that transition happens there at the end of John 3 where he’s saying, he must increase, and I must decrease. Right? I was just there to kind of prepare the way and now he’s come, and I rejoice in that. 

It’s not just that he begrudgingly gives back his place. He rejoices. Because Christ, the right hand, is ready to do the mission. I love that interplay, and that was a really powerful lesson for me to meditate on. And it’s still something I have to continue to remind myself of. But it puts me in the right place, Matt. 

It puts me in the right place of where my job is to see Christ preeminent. And his mission preeminent, and I play whatever role I’m called to play. And to your earlier point, John saw the bigger picture, didn’t he? He saw the bigger picture. And actually, maybe I’ll say it this way. He didn’t see all things perfectly. 

He trusted the bigger picture; I think is probably how I would say that with John the Baptist. He trusted the bigger picture. Yeah. And he trusted Christ as the head and saw himself. Yeah. With that uncommon humility. Yeah. Of a left hand. Yeah. You know, here’s another thing that I think our left hand or a less dominant hand can teach us. 

And that is where they find their security. And this kind of goes to the larger picture concept, but you get a sense that the left hand is fully secure in the head’s pleasure of it. Because my left hand knows that I am really pleased with it. I’m never really down on my left hand for not being able to do certain things. 

I am genuinely pleased, really perfectly pleased with how my less dominant hand behaves and services the body. And it’s enough. But I find very often, Arlan, the pleasure of the head in my own life, I look for that affirmation in lots of other places. And when I search for it, not just from the head that is Christ, I search for it in all kinds of sideways directions. 

Yeah. That inevitably gets me into trouble. Right. And then it gets us sideways often with others or in other situations because we’re seeking our affirmation, we’re seeking our value from something besides the head, which is Christ. We are complete in him, the Scripture says, right? 

Not in this and that and everything else. And it’s such an easy thing to fall into. You know, Matt, the other thing I think it really does, it’s really the seedbed of true thankfulness to begin to see the power of the right hand, the power of the left hand, the power of the parts of the body working together for that greater purpose, that greater good. 

And it’s one thing to say, oh, I’m thankful for this person or whatever and to verbalize it or even just notice it. It’s another thing to take it to that heart level of really, truly appreciating the right hand, the left hand, the interplay between them, how they work together and our proper role within that. 

It’s a powerful piece of being part of a body. I think it’s really exciting too. I mean, you think about how inspiring that is and how very uncommon this type of humility is, and where is this humility going to be possessed, but in a person with a membership concept, a bodily membership concept. And so, for us not to find it in the larger world is pretty plausible, but to find it in the church is very likely. 

Which is such a beautiful calling for the church, isn’t it? A neat artifact that the church offers. It’s a powerful countercultural message, frankly, right? By this, all men know that you’re my disciples. If you have love one for another, it’s an aspect of that love where humbly we walk together. And it’s not about self-promotion or envy or jealousy or boasting or any of those things. 

It’s about resting in the beautiful design that God has given us. And moving our part to the fullest. Thanks, Arlan. Jealousy, envy, greed, these are very human tendencies and feelings. And I’ve been known to say, I’d give my right hand for that. And my left hand gets it, understands it, and doesn’t get in a tussle about it. 

Because my left hand has got this uncommon humility that knows that its head is pleased with it and sees its joint efforts with the efforts of the entire body. And we have that same opportunity in the church, and that’s what Christ invites us into this body, his body, where he is the head. And we serve at every capacity we can, at whatever ability we can serve. 

And it’s a beautiful thing. And so, we have lots to learn from our less dominant hands. And I think we can all be appreciative of the example that’s right in our bodies that speaks to us in this beautiful way. Thanks, each one for being on. I hope this has blessed you.