If you’ve felt stuck lately, this column today should be a great encouragement to you. Perhaps it’s no accident that you opened the newspaper to the Devotional Page, saw the question in the headline, and decided to read a little more.
If you’ve read this far, perhaps it’s a divine appointment that God drew you to read the words of Jesus from the pool at Bethesda. Here’s the setting: Jesus and His disciples are in Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts and they walk into a large gathering of sick people.
This scene is described in John 5: 2,3. “Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.” This story is a great reminder that Jesus went into hard places to shine light; He didn’t avoid them.
On the porch around the pool are invalids who are sick, weak or powerless. This gathering of people desperately could use healing. Imagine the daily sights—the sounds, the smells, and especially the depression and discouragement. They are all waiting for the water to stir, thinking it has healing powers when it does.
“One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, He asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’’ (John 5:5-6) Instead of giving the obvious answer back, the paralytic man doesn’t give Jesus a straight answer of Yes or No. Instead, he does what a lot of us do. He starts off with an excuse!
‘”Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.’” (John 5:7) Truthfully, everything the man said was a fact. But faith can override the facts, and that’s what he didn’t know.
‘Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” (John 5:8-9) The cue we need to take from this story prompts these questions: Do you want to just survive? Or do you want to thrive? Maybe you’re still stuck in the excuse mindset. “I don’t have anyone. I don’t have the time. I don’t know enough. No one cares. They’re not helping me. I’ve been like this as long as I can remember. This is how we’ve always done things.”
Thriving begins where excuses end. Jesus stepped right over the paralytic man’s excuses and gave him a command. Don’t worry I’m not commanding you, but I politely request you to come at 10 a.m. Sunday to LECC at 415987 Highway 9 to enjoy our Easter Feaster brunch followed by worship at 11 a.m.. Jesus is asking us if we would like to thrive instead of survive. If so, get up, pick up your mat, and join us.
God Bless You!
Jeremy Little, Minister
