Self Motivation
For change to happen, you need to be willing to do things for yourself.
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.” ’ They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. - John 5:1-18
This Gospel story is about Jesus performing a miracle on the sabbath, but it also has a message for all of us about how we deal with what comes our way in life.
When Jesus asks the paralyzed man if he wants to be made well, the man becomes defensive, explaining why he can not get to the water. No one will help me, he tells Jesus.
How many times in our lives do we make excuses like that?
Of course we can argue that the man had no way to help himself, but Jesus shows him that is all in his mind. Once the man has reason to believe, he can do the impossible.
How different would our lives be if we didn't know we couldn't do for ourselves what we think we need others to do for us?
The man had to believe he could or he would have never tried to stand up and walk.
The more we assume we can't, the less we can.
We have been told that nothing is impossible with Christ, so why not believe everything is possible for us always?
The obstacles that stand in our way seem insurmountable at times, because a solution is just not as obvious as we would like. If we continue to believe something will be made clear to show us the way, it will happen.
The Spirit is constantly moving to clear the path for us, but it is up to us to take action. We have to believe it is truly possible or we will never see the glory of God in action in our lives.
Yes, others can help us. Like the man with the mat, we can wait for them, knowing God will send someone, or we can do as Jesus says and stand up and walk on our own.
More to come...