Dusted for Fingerprints

 

Call me crazy, but I truly enjoy all the forensic based shows on television. CSI, NCIS, NCIS-LA, CSI-NY, even Bones, (we can skip Horatio from Miami!).  My husband doesn’t understand my attraction to these shows. To him it’s all guts and gore. I don’t care for that part of the show either – when they do an inside the body scope-like journey to follow the track of the bullet or whatever. However, the mystery – the search for answers based on only the facts of the evidence is very intriguing to me. It is amazing the equipment that has been developed to determine chemical compounds and fiber matches. They have machines that can break down fluids into a number of chemicals; they have scopes and databases to tell the exact car a fiber came from or where a bit of dirt originated. It’s almost sci-fi in nature! But the old reliable “dusting powder” hasn’t changed and is still used to determine the very unique markings of fingerprints. Any time a person handles or just touches something we leave behind a fingerprint, a print that is undeniably our mark. Some fingerprints bring blessing; some bring destruction.

The power of Jesus’ fingerprints is revealed in the Biblical books of Matthew, Mark and Luke when He touched people at their point of need bringing healing and comfort to them.

·  Matthew 8:15
But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.

·  Matthew 9:29 
Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.”

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

·  Matthew 20:34 
Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him.

·  Mark 1:41
Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!”

·  Mark 6:56
Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.

·  Mark 7:33
Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue.

·  Mark 10:13 
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

·  Luke 4:40
As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed every one.

·  Luke 7:14 
Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.”

·  Luke 13:13 
Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!

·  Luke 14:4 
When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and healed him and sent him away.

ALL these lives were changed by the touch of Jesus. His touch left the fingerprint of  God’s mercy and restoration.

Paul, a disciple of Jesus Christ, knew the importance of baring the marks or fingerprints of God in his life.  In ancient times the Greek word for “marks” was used of the brand that identified slaves or animals. Paul’s suffering (stoning, Ac 14:19; beatings, Ac 16:22; 2 Cor 11:25; illness, Gal 4:13-14) marked him as a “servant of Christ”.* The touch of God on Paul’s life so marked him that “When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his (Paul’s) skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.” (Acts 19:12)

The fingerprint of God on Paul’s life included pain and suffering but he fully understood the favor of God’s touch as well. When arguments arose among the first century Christians about circumcision, the first identifying mark of the covenant between God and Abraham (Gen 17:9-14), Paul gave explanation of the new covenant.  “¹² Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. ¹³ And even those who advocate circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.

   ¹⁴ As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross^, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. ¹⁵ It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. ¹⁶ May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.

   ¹⁷ From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars (or marks in some translations) that show I belong to Jesus.” (Gal 6:12-17)

What does the mark of God’s fingerprint on my life look like? Do those I encounter every day see God’s touch or the smudge of sin and failure? Is there a definite sign that I have been in God’s presence, marked by Jesus’ touch and empowered by the Holy Spirit? How will they know?

Jesus told his disciples at their last supper together, "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other." (John 13:34-35) The new command was much like the old one given in Lev 19:18, but for Jesus’ disciples it was new, because it was the mark of their brotherhood, created by Jesus’ great love for them (Matt 22:37-39). *

The people around us are always “dusting us” for fingerprints. There is a great desire to see genuine love and the demonstration of faith and confidence. People need to see we are who we say we are and do what God says we should!

Watching forensics shows make you want to be sure you clean your doorknobs well so, if the need ever arises, the CSI agents will be able to determine the unusual set of fingerprints found there to solve a crime! Even more, when we realize we bear the marks of things that touch our lives every day, we need to purify our lives with the touch of God.  It is the undeniable fingerprint of God Almighty that I want to display in loving my neighbors and demonstrating the love of Christ to my brothers and sisters in the faith.  I hope when they “dust me for fingerprints” I’m COVERED with God’s!

*Footnotes from the NIV Study Bible