![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/despondent-106x300.png\")
They were beaten down. Their possessions were plundered, and family and friends were speaking evil of them. They were Christians on the verge of quitting. But, Paul wanted to remind them of the superiority and greatness of Christ, so he penned Hebrews with word pictures that Christ is all that truly matters. If you drift away from Christ you truly lose the greatest treasure of all. So, look up! “Strengthen the hands that hang down<\/em>” (Hebrews 12:12). In other words, quit feeling sorry for yourself, look at what you have in Christ, and get those hands busy helping others. You find encouragement in giving it to others. Get busy! An idle mind is the devil’s workshop!<\/p>\nHands hanging down suggests that you don’t appreciate what you have in Christ and that you are not busy in His kingdom helping others! Get those hands up after you go to the throne of grace to find the help you need inside (Hebrews 4:16). Strengthen those hands if you find they are hanging down for too long!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton They were beaten down. Their possessions were plundered, and family and friends were speaking evil of them. They were Christians on the verge of quitting. But, Paul wanted to remind them of the superiority and greatness of Christ, so he penned Hebrews with word pictures that Christ is all that truly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[397],"class_list":["post-60780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-depression"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59974,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lifting-up-holy-hands\/","url_meta":{"origin":60780,"position":0},"title":"Lifting Up Holy Hands","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Does I Timothy 2:8 enjoin upon men a physical prayer posture? I am not so convinced. While I agree that there are verses in the Old Testament that show this posture was sometimes used, there was no ruling that it was expected, and certainly, no set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40546,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-doctrine-of-laying-on-of-hands\/","url_meta":{"origin":60780,"position":1},"title":"What is the doctrine of laying on of hands?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This is my third year after being added to the body. Somehow, I often find myself in intense discussions with friends and relatives regarding certain areas of belief. Many times I can hold my own, but when it comes to laying on of hands, I'm not certain how to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46437,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sin-of-murmuring\/","url_meta":{"origin":60780,"position":2},"title":"The Sin of Murmuring","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Earl Fly Korah, Dathan, Abiram, fifty princes of the congregation, and others rebelled and murmured against God's servants Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16:1-11). \"The earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up ... they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94893,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/irresponsibility-crucified-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":60780,"position":3},"title":"Irresponsibility Crucified Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Pilate thought he could just wash his hands of any responsibility, and while we think little of Pilate for trying to pass off his responsibility, how are we better than Pilate when we do not stand up for Jesus when we should? Is Pilate really much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47684,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-hebrews-61-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":60780,"position":4},"title":"Could you explain Hebrews 6:1-2?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I do have a question about Hebrews 6:1-2, \"Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6783,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/shouldnt-we-lift-hands-in-prayer-and-greet-with-a-holy-kiss\/","url_meta":{"origin":60780,"position":5},"title":"Shouldn’t we lift hands in prayer and greet with a holy kiss?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God bless you for your great website! I was raised in a God-fearing church of Christ, but I am now attending one that has \"modernized\" into an almost unrecognizable church of Christ. I am\u00a0so relieved that churches such as yours are still out there! I was searching the web\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}