“Get Up! Pick Up Your Mat And Walk.”

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a Jewish feast. In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate is a pool. In the Aramaic language it is called Bethesda. It is surrounded by five rows of columns with a roof over them. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie down. Among them were those who were blind, those who could not walk, and those who could hardly move.

One person who was there had been disabled for 38 years. Jesus saw him lying there. He knew that the man had been in that condition for a long time. So he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

"Sir," the disabled man replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when an angel stirs the water up. I try to get in, but someone else always goes down ahead of me."

 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

At once the man was healed. He picked up his mat and walked.

John 5:1-9

Do you have any doubt that Jesus continues to perform miracles in our lives, every single day?

We can be physically whole and we can be spiritually whole. The two are not the same. As we get older our bodies deteriorate, but our faith can become stronger.

If we only want something Jesus can do for us, our relationship with Him will be limited. When we want Jesus Himself, He brings completeness to our lives. Christ wants, first and foremost, to make us whole.

Only Jesus can give wholeness to a broken life.

Our Daily Bread – May 25, 2010