Hello Everyone, today is a day that we have never seen and will never see again. We have been given the opportunity to make the best of it so let`s do just that. Today we will be discussing the topic of excuse making. Many of us are familiar with making excuses , some of us are making one up right now to get out of something they do not desire to do later on today.
My Pastor shared a quote with me that has literally changed my life concerning this subject...
Excuses are tools of the incompetent, they build monuments of nothingness and those that use them seldom accomplish anything.
We will be looking at one of my favorite accounts in the Bible... John 5 : 1-9. For some are familiar with this story while others may not be ; either way we will look at it together.
We see here that the time had come for a particular Jewish Feast to take place, which some say was Passover, but others are not sure. Jesus being born of Jewish descent went up to Jerusalem to attend this feast. Located there was a pool named Bethesda which translates... The house of pity or of mercy.... This Pool had five porches or what we would consider large open spaces that could house an enormous amount of people.
This place was believed to be where one could go and be healed of all manner of sickness and infirmities.. Some were lame , others were blind and there also appeared there those who were paralyzed.. which dictates to us how when one is blind ; their walk or lack thereof can cause them to become immobile. Evidently people were being healed or there would not have been such a gathering there.
So an angel would go down at a certain time and stir up the water, whomever got there first was healed.. which must have been a sight to see; a mob of people vying for the same thing HEALING, not knowing if this would be their day ... maybe a little like the stores on Black Friday ???.
One man who had been an invalid for 38 years and even longer than God incarnate had been on the face of the earth. Although he was an invalid to man, but not invald to the Messiah. Without condemnation , accusation or even frustration.. Jesus asked the man ONE question ... Do you want to be made well ? Not how come your here, how did you get here, or why haven`t you been healed before now? Even though he had never met the man .. He being God knew his condition.
Sometimes we beat around the bush with ourselves as well as with others. Christ gets to the root of the matter.. the longing in the mans heart to be healed. Christ also waits for our recognition and confession that we are in a state that we cannot get ourselves out of and steps in... most of us came to God under some type of distress.
So here we go.. the question is posed the ball is in the man`s court and his response is as follows..I have no one to put me in the pool and when I am in route someone jumps in front of me... This is sad because it shows us how we sometimes become so dependent on other people we give up the responsibility of helping in our own healing process ... Those other people were there for deliverance and helping someone else was not the first thing on their " to do" list. Now I don`t know about you but being from Brooklyn aka Crooklyn when we wanted something very rarely did we allow anyone or anything to get in our way. We would go to desperate measures to recieve that which we felt was to be ours.
Without further ado Jesus said Rise, take up your bed and WALK.. he was told to do 3 things... get up from where you have been for far too long. take hold of that which you have been using to hold you down and get up and start to follow the course of life that I predestined for you before the foundations of the world. wow I felt that !!!
Many of us make excuses about why we are not furthering our education, advancing in our careers , exercising and eating healthier... the list is endless. but the question still remains DO YOU WANNA BE MADE WELL ? I f we are honest we all want to be healed but we don`t always want to admit that we are sick !, we dont wan`t to be broken but are too prideful to say we are broken. we don`t want to be frustrated but we are because of what so and so had said to us.
If we are going to be those captives that Christ died to set free we will have to stop making excuses, people work all week and Sunday morning ... you are just too tired to come to the Temple ?... Oh I was gonna come to your party but what had happened was .... Oh yeah I was planning on loaning you that money , but my boss forgot to turn in my timecard... And the list keeps goin and going and going..
I only write about what has been spoken to me , so I am making a conscious effort to stop playing the blame game . I will no longer blame Adam , Eve , the serpent , the rain , the boogie or the alcohol.... I don`t drink but yall understand the reference..
Christ does not ever tell us to do something He has not first done himself or has given us the power to accomplish. When we enter a hospital the first place you start is at... ADMITTING, You went there because you ... BELIEVED they could cure you. And then you write down what`s troubling you... Confession.
What I am saying is God already knows but He wants us to be participatory in our deliverance, may our obedience be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to reach God`s heart in a single bound...
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