That's NOT What Jesus Asked

John 5

1 Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. 2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. 4 for an angel of the Lord came from time to time and stirred up the water. And the first person to step in after the water was stirred was healed of whatever disease he had .5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

That’s NOT what Jesus asked! Did you catch it? Jesus approaches a guy who hasn’t been able to walk for 38 years, asks him if he would like to walk again, and this goober goes off giving excuses as to why he can’t get in the pool in hopes of being healed. That is NOT what Jesus asked! How many times do we fail to heed what God’s Word says because we are too busy giving excuses as to why we can’t do this or that? What if we just “listened” to what Jesus is asking us and then obeyed. Yeah, that would be much better all the way around.

Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 14

26 Those who fear the Lord are secure;


he will be a refuge for their children.

27 Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain;


it offers escape from the snares of death.

Contrast this sentiment with the passages from Judges just a few days ago, where it is said that the people did what was right in their own eyes. When there is no healthy respect for, when there is no fear of God, people will revert to the lowest common denominator. They will act like pagans. When we DO have that respect/fear, our lives truly are better. Not that we don’t still have the tough times, but we have the LORD to get us through them. I’ll take refuge in the LORD over flying on my own any day of the week!

Praise God Always

Psalm 105

1 Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.


Let the whole world know what he has done.


2 Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.


Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.


3 Exult in his holy name;


rejoice, you who worship the Lord.


4 Search for the Lord and for his strength;


continually seek him.

How could I do any less than give thanks and praise to my Lord and Savior Jesus and to my Creator God? How could I desire to do anything that would quench the Holy Spirit residing in me? Yet, my life often is less than filled with praise, and I know that this saddens my Heavenly Father, my Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. May it never be so again. May my life be filled with praise always. May the frustrations of life be turned to times of thanksgiving, and looked upon as opportunities to sing praises to God. He alone is worthy of such praise, and it is my desire to be a “praise machine” for God always!

God is the Source of Life

Psalm 104

24 O Lord, what a variety of things you have made!


In wisdom you have made them all.


The earth is full of your creatures.


25 Here is the ocean, vast and wide,


teeming with life of every kind,


both large and small.


26 See the ships sailing along,


and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea.

27 They all depend on you


to give them food as they need it.


28 When you supply it, they gather it.


You open your hand to feed them,


and they are richly satisfied.


29 But if you turn away from them, they panic.


When you take away their breath,


they die and turn again to dust.

30 When you give them your breath, life is created,


and you renew the face of the earth.

31 May the glory of the Lord continue forever!


The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!

So, Dad had the History channel on this afternoon while he was sleeping, and they had “experts” talking about how life on this planet could have come from extraterrestrial beings, or even from humans who time traveled back from the future to “plant the seed of human life.” Really? I mean, that is what passes as intellectualism these days? Hey, I like science fiction as much as anybody, but remember it is FICTION! To have so-called scholars discussing this crap with a straight face makes me want to laugh, and then it makes me want to throw up. Way too many of the so-called intellectuals refuse to believe in God as Creator of all life, but they can postulate that aliens came to this planet long ago to get the human race started. No wonder that God calls the wisdom of man foolishness. I agree with God!

In Their Own Eyes

Judges 17

6 In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

This is one of the saddest passages of Scripture ever. It does remind me of people in this nation today. See, when Jesus is NOT the King of our lives, we humans have the tendency to do whatever is right in our own eyes. So, the moral decay in which America finds itself in 2010 should come as no surprise. We kicked God out of the public discourse nearly 50 years ago. We have effectively raised two generations of Americans without the same basic Christian foundation that was in place for the first two centuries of this nation’s history. Why should we be surprised at the decidedly pagan turn the people of this nation have taken? We shouldn’t.

Obey Your Mamma

John 2

1 The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”

4 “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

5 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

I LOVE this story! Jesus’ Mom tells him the problem, knowing that He can solve it quickly, quietly, and efficiently. Jesus doesn’t want to get involved here, telling His Mom that it is not His problem and that His time has not yet come. She ignores His protestations, and tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. Then, she walks off! What does Jesus do? He performs the miracle at Cana, turning water into wine! He does what His Mamma told Him to do. See, Jesus not only obeyed His Heavenly Father, He obeyed His Mamma, too. A lesson we can all learn from, and apply in our daily lives.

Calling It Like It Is

John 1

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Oh, to be so quick in recognizing and calling out for Jesus! He IS the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, and like John the Baptizer, we need to boldly proclaim Jesus to be Who He is, while submitting to His Lordship daily.