If I May Touch But His Clothes

“For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” (Mark 5:28). If we ever feel that we are insufficiently sincere in our efforts of faith and repentance, divided in our mind or our heart about what we truly want, plagued with doubts or disbelief, unworthy of forgiveness or healing, such fears do not come from benign sources. If we cannot bring ourselves to look our Savior in the eye, nor to sink into His outstretched arms, nor even to bathe his feet with our tears, if all we can bring ourselves to do is touch His garment, it is a start. With whatever hesitations and misgivings we have, the Lord will honor and reward any effort we make to draw closer to Him. We will discover if we can even just touch the hem of His robe, we will notice immediate improvement in our lives. Our half-hearted attempts to walk the gospel path will become whole-hearted as we allow ourselves to become whole through the power of our Savior's grace. Our fears and doubts will be cast out as we let more of our Savior's light and truth and love into our lives. Enjoying the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel is worth our lame and faltering and imperfect first attempts. If we persevere through our insecurities and cynicism and stubbornness, we will eventually have the confidence to touch not only our Savior's garments, but to feel the wounds in His hands and His feet and His side, and to be wrapped up in His embrace and abide with Him as He increasingly abides with us as we grow from grace to grace.