On Easter morning Jesus rose from the grave and conquered
death. Jesus wants all people to get up and walk. He beckons us as He did the
man crippled for 37 years lying beside the Pool of Bethesda, “Get
up! Pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:8). We know from the story that
at once he got up and walked because he was healed. But notice in this story
that Jesus also asked this man if he wanted to be healed. Why? Because he had lain
at the poolside so long he had become accustomed to being a cripple. Are you
used to being a cripple? Do you just accept your lot? Have you given up trying
to reach up? “Not that I have already obtained
all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of
that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not
consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting
what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win
the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”
(Philippians
3:12-14). Paul kept going saying there is “one thing” for him and that is
pressing on toward the goal Christ has called him. Have you given up because the world is just
too much for you? Yes it is without God’s power in you.
“Come” (Matthew 14:28) Jesus said to Peter as
He exhorted him to get out of the boat and walk on the water, and he did. Yes,
Jesus and Peter walked on water overcoming nature. Jesus is God and can
overcome all things. He has given to His believers the same ability. He has
risen from the grave, ascended to heaven and sent His Holy Spirit to live with
and within us. He beckons to us saying, “Whether you turn to the right or to the
left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in
it” (Isaiah 30:21). God wants us
to get up and walk. “He will teach us His ways, so that we can walk in His paths…let us
walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:3&5).
God wants all to walk in the light as He is in the light (1
John 1). But so many walk in darkness or the ways of the world. “God
is light and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). It takes
courage to overcome our fears and bad habits. We may indeed have troubles, we
all do. But Jesus said, “In this world you will have trials, but
take heart I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
This Easter morning, walk in the light of His resurrection, “He
is not here, He has risen” He has risen indeed!
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.