The Open-Handed Life: A Simple Test to See If You're Really Trusting God

Most Christians say they trust God.

But here's the hard question: What are you holding onto so tightly that if God asked you to let it go, you'd say no?

The Open-Handed Life: What Trusting God Looks Like

I'll never forget a lunch conversation I had with a faith leader in our community. We were discussing our plans to turn racing into a full-time ministry—to sell our house, hit the road, and minister to families at tracks across the country.

As we talked, he held his hands out over the table and said something I've never forgotten:

"God's desire for His people is to always live open-handed. Don't hold on too tight because we can either willingly surrender to Him, or He can pry it from our clenched fists. Which is more painful to experience?"

In that moment, I didn't fully appreciate what he was trying to teach me. I simply nodded in full agreement, paid the bill, and went about the rest of my day.

But that conversation has played over and over in my head for more than a year. Because that simple metaphor—open hands versus clenched fists—captures everything about what it means to actually trust God.

The Self-Assessment

So let me ask you: Are you living open-handed?

Here's how to find out. Ask yourself these questions:

What would it cost you the most to give up?

• Your career? Your reputation? Your financial security?

• Your dream house? Your five-year plan? Your comfort?

• Your control over your kids' future? Your retirement plans?

What are you working hardest to control?

• Your schedule? Your success? Your image?

• Your relationships? Your outcomes? Your legacy?

What do you think you "need" in order to be happy, secure, or successful?

• A certain income level? A certain lifestyle?

• Others' approval? Perfect circumstances?

• Certainty about the future? A backup plan?

If God asked you to let it go tomorrow, would you?

Be honest. Most of us are holding onto something. And the tighter we grip it, the less room we have for God's mission.

Out of all the stuff I had accumulated, the life I had built, the career, the kids, the whole package—was I living open-handed? Willing to surrender any of it—all of it—for His plan and purpose?

That was the question I couldn't escape.

What Open-Handed Living Looks Like

Living open-handed doesn't mean being irresponsible or reckless. It doesn't mean you quit your job on a whim or make foolish financial decisions or abandon wisdom and planning.

It means holding your plans, possessions, and preferences loosely enough that when God says, "Let go," you can.

James writes: "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow... Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" (James 4:13-15)

James isn't saying it's wrong to make plans. He's saying it's arrogant to make plans as if we're in control. As if our plans are guaranteed. As if God's direction is optional.

Living open-handed means:

• Making plans with the humility to let God edit them, redirect them, or scrap them entirely

• Pursuing goals while holding them loosely enough to pivot when God says so

• Building security without making it your ultimate refuge

• Loving people without making their approval your source of identity

• Stewarding resources without letting them control your decisions

It means saying "If it is the Lord's will" and actually meaning it.

How to Start Living Open-Handed

Here are some practical steps:

1. Identify what you're holding onto Write it down. Be specific. What are you most afraid of losing? That's probably what you're gripping the tightest.

2. Ask God if He's asking you to release it Not every possession needs to be sold. Not every plan needs to be abandoned. But some do. Ask Him. Listen. Be willing to hear "yes."

3. Practice small surrenders Before God asks for the big things, practice with the small things:

• Give generously even when it's uncomfortable

• Say yes to something that disrupts your plans

• Let someone else have control over a decision

• Trust God with an outcome you can't manipulate

4. Watch what God does when your hands are open This is where it gets good. Because when you stop white-knuckling your life, when you stop trying to control everything, when you finally open your hands—that's when you discover what God can do with a life fully surrendered to Him.

The Cost and the Freedom

Living open-handed isn't easy. It's terrifying. It costs you control, comfort, and certainty.

But it's the only way to experience the mission God has for you.

Because you can't receive what God wants to give you if your hands are full of what you refuse to let go.

When you hold on too tight, you're in danger of missing the very best of who God is—His grace, His majesty, His power, His salvation, His mission, and His plan for you.

But when you open your hands, when you let go, when you trust Him enough to say

"Here am I, send me"—that's when you discover a life you could never have manufactured on your own.

Want to learn how to live open-handed—and what happens when you do? Get the first chapter of Trusting Him With Tuesday free.