Are you really in earnest about getting well?
John 5:6 (Message Bible)
Hello Friend,
What are your expectations for this week? Same old, same old. Are you stuck in a rut? Do you have an action plan for meeting your long-term goals? Is your highest aspiration just getting through the day without losing your mind? I have one acquaintance that sleeps till noon unable to face the day. Enough already! Jesus said, “Get off your duff” (my paraphrase). He did say, “Get up! Pick up your bed (sleeping pad) and walk!”
In this story, I believe Jesus was exasperated. Jesus approached the pool in Jerusalem where the crippled, sick, and blind would gather. It was the belief at that time that an angel would move the waters and the first one to enter the pool would be healed. As Jesus walked among the ill and suffering, he encountered a man who had been lying there for 38 years and said, “Do you want to get well?” The first words out of the unnamed invalid’s mouth were, “I have nobody to help me.” He didn’t say, “Oh yes, please, I will do anything.” Instead, he gave excuses.
If Jesus’ words to the man, “Get up” sound harsh to you, you should know that most commentators state that this man’s sickness was in his mind. Emotional pain and anguish is quite real, but curable. But, you have to want to get well. Just as heaven has many rooms, I believe hell does also, only hell is right here, right now. There is the room of alcoholism. A room of fear, another for worry, etc.
Jesus wants your life to be joyful. Monday is a great day to begin anew. No more excuses. Jesus says, “Get up.” Next, he says, “Pick up your mat and walk.” In other words, take an action step. Reach out! Make a phone call to a professional for help. Join a support group. Call your pastor. Maybe you don’t spend your whole day in bed, but if you are sleepwalking through life—barely making it—held together by pills or one two-many glasses of wine—stop making excuses. Thirty-eight years is a long time to suffer. Now is the time to accept responsibility for the choices you make? Choose to live joyfully!
Affirmation: I choose to get well. This day I seek wholeness in body, mind and spirit.
Loving you too much to be silent any longer, Linda
John 5:6 (Message Bible)
Hello Friend,
What are your expectations for this week? Same old, same old. Are you stuck in a rut? Do you have an action plan for meeting your long-term goals? Is your highest aspiration just getting through the day without losing your mind? I have one acquaintance that sleeps till noon unable to face the day. Enough already! Jesus said, “Get off your duff” (my paraphrase). He did say, “Get up! Pick up your bed (sleeping pad) and walk!”
In this story, I believe Jesus was exasperated. Jesus approached the pool in Jerusalem where the crippled, sick, and blind would gather. It was the belief at that time that an angel would move the waters and the first one to enter the pool would be healed. As Jesus walked among the ill and suffering, he encountered a man who had been lying there for 38 years and said, “Do you want to get well?” The first words out of the unnamed invalid’s mouth were, “I have nobody to help me.” He didn’t say, “Oh yes, please, I will do anything.” Instead, he gave excuses.
If Jesus’ words to the man, “Get up” sound harsh to you, you should know that most commentators state that this man’s sickness was in his mind. Emotional pain and anguish is quite real, but curable. But, you have to want to get well. Just as heaven has many rooms, I believe hell does also, only hell is right here, right now. There is the room of alcoholism. A room of fear, another for worry, etc.
Jesus wants your life to be joyful. Monday is a great day to begin anew. No more excuses. Jesus says, “Get up.” Next, he says, “Pick up your mat and walk.” In other words, take an action step. Reach out! Make a phone call to a professional for help. Join a support group. Call your pastor. Maybe you don’t spend your whole day in bed, but if you are sleepwalking through life—barely making it—held together by pills or one two-many glasses of wine—stop making excuses. Thirty-eight years is a long time to suffer. Now is the time to accept responsibility for the choices you make? Choose to live joyfully!
Affirmation: I choose to get well. This day I seek wholeness in body, mind and spirit.
Loving you too much to be silent any longer, Linda
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